Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi improved his standing at the Qatar Cross Country Rally by two places, climbing from seventh to fifth after Day 3.
After experiencing navigation issues on Day 2, the Abu Dhabi Racing driver and chairman, alongside co-driver Khalid Al Kendi, moved into the top five on Thursday, achieved by posting the second fastest time of the 353.02 kilometre Sealine leg.
Averaging nearly 96km per hour in his Peugeot 3008 DKR, Sheikh Khalid went about closing down the chasing pack.
After Wednesday’s frustration, Sheikh Khalid said he was pleased to be in closer contention, but maintained this event, which is Round 4 of the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies, is still being treated as a learning curve.
“It was a really tough day but we adopted a balanced pace,” the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge champion said. “I tried to follow some lines in the beginning and it was good and at about 200km I started catching up with some cars; five or six cars I think.
“Earlier though we lost some caps, which are actually directional indicators, and had to come back which meant we lost about three to four minutes. But the important thing is we are here.
“For me it is still about learning, learning and everyday is a new chapter in this format of racing.”
Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah leads the car standings after Day 3, climbing from sixth overnight to top spot.
After previous leader, Jakub Przygonski, lost valuable time in the sand, and second-placed Yazeed Al Rajhi withdrew from the stage with technical issues, Al Attiyah took advantage and holds a lead of three minutes, 23.7 seconds over Leeroy Poulter.
“The car is working very well and we do our job and our target to win the stage,” Al Attiyah said. “Now we are leading and try to keep going like this. The wind made it not easy and we had a small mistake in the dunes and we lose around three minutes. But we came back strong.”
There was no change at the top of the bikes leaderboard, with Sam Sunderland holding on to top spot. The Briton leads Paolo Goncalves of Portugal by seven minutes and 12.9 seconds.
Meanwhile in the quads category, Alexis Hernandez lost his lead when he was penalised for missing two waypoints and the Peruvian slipped to second behind the day’s stage winner Rafal Sonik.
* Agencies
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