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UAE's Shaikh Khalid takes second spot in Oman

The Abu Dhabi native showed his class on the final day, winning the opening three special stages and cutting the gap to the leader from an overnight 2 minutes 22 seconds to I minute 55 seconds going into the service break.

Shaikh Khalid Al Qassimi won all stages on the final day of the Oman International Rally. — Supplied photo

Muscat: Shaikh Khalid bin Faisal Al Qassimi finished second overall at Oman International Rally but was nevertheless content with his performance and also expressed his happiness at the huge experience his Abu Dhabi Racing junior drivers had gained in tough conditions in the Sultanate over the weekend.

Leading a five-car ADR team at the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) candidate event, Shaikh Khalid returned for the final day with a vengeance after being forced out of the lead on Friday when the front right drive shaft of his Citroën DS3 RRC broke and needed to be changed during the service break. The Abu Dhabi native, however, showed his class on the final day on Saturday, winning the opening three special stages and cutting the gap to the leader from an overnight 2 minutes 22 seconds to I minute 55 seconds going into the service break.

Organisers cancelled SS11, the first special after the break, as it was not suitable for racing and drivers then tackled SS 12, which also was won by Shaikh Khalid, further trimming the gap to the leader to 1 minute 43 seconds. Shaikh Khalid then won the final special of the day, SS13, by 15.6 seconds and eventually managed to cut the gap to 1 minute 28 seconds to finish second overall by winning all the competed stages on Saturday.

Speaking after the podium ceremony, Shaikh Khalid said: “I love the Oman rally; I won here in 2007 and was hoping for a repeat performance. Unfortunately, given the tough terrain here, which is the toughest in the Middle East, the front right drive shaft of my DS3 broke and slowed me down on Friday and eventually I ended up more than two minutes behind the leader overnight. But I am happy with my pace today, I tried to regain as many seconds as was possible. The goal was to protect second overall and enjoy the rally and further test the car in these very challenging conditions. “That said, I am extremely pleased with our junior drivers who have done an excellent job of staying inside the top ten. Congratulations to them and I advise them to learn from this experience as it will help them in the future.”

Singled out for special mention was Abu Dhabi Racing junior driver Mohamed Al Mutawaa who won his class, and although he spun on the opening special stage on Saturday morning, the young ADR driver recovered to finish fourth overall.The other junior drivers who took part were Saeed Bintouq, Mansoor Belhelei and Juma Al Falasi finishing Oman International Rally in 6^th, 7^th and 8^th respectively.

Meanwhile, Shaikh Khalid will conclude his racing season for this year with the final round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship, the Dubai International Rally, which will be held from November 27-29 later this month. Should Sheikh Khalid win his home event come the end of this month, he will have clinched the Middle East title for a second time.