Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi is optimistic of putting in a strong showing in his Abu Dhabi Total Citroen car at the Rally Finland, the latest round of the World Rally Championship over the next four days of action.
Back in action
Sheikh Khalid is back behind the wheel of the Abu Dhabi Total Citroen DS3 World Rally car this weekend in Finland, with the opening stage of the event taking place in Jyvaskyla on Thursday.
It will be the Emirati driver’s first appearance in the World Rally Championship (WRC) since he competed in Portugal in May, and it will be his third of 2016 overall.
Test session
To prepare himself for the event, which will cover 333 kilometres in distance before it finishes on Sunday, Sheikh Khalid and his co-driver Chris Patterson took part in a 150km test session ahead of the start of the rally.
It allowed them the chance to work on their car set-up and getting used to the dusty stages they will be driving on.
Satisfied
Sheikh Khalid said he was encouraged by how the testing session had gone. “We had a good feeling especially after the modifications on the set-up of the car,” he said.
“We were faster than last year and are happy with the feeling behind the wheel. At the end we were satisfied with the set-up and happy to get the feeling with the car back.”
Super speedy
This will be Sheikh Khalid’s seventh appearance at Rally Finland, with his best previous finish coming in 2009 when he was ninth.
He was 16th last year, but with more than 40 per cent of this year’s rally being a new route, he is optimistic of improving, adding: “I have no doubt that we are going to enjoy Finland this year with the new super speedy stages.”
51-point lead
Also driving for Abu Dhabi Citroen in the rally is Kris Meeke and Craig Breen. Volkswagen’s Sebastien Ogier, the world champion, takes a 51-point lead into the event over teammate Andreas Mikkelsen.
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