March 13, 2015 – Sheikh Khalid bin Faisal Al Qassimi and co-driver Chris Patterson finished day one of the Kuwait International Rally, Round 2 of the 2015 FIA Middle East Rally Championship, in a strong second place amid a five way battle for top honours at the wheel of his Abu Dhabi Racing Citroën DS3 RRC and keeping them in strong for the final day on Saturday.
The first day of the rally was held over seven stages of challenging terrain, stretching 144.72 km, with Al Qassimi also thrown a dose of bad luck when sand obscured his vision and cost him valuable time. At this point he dropped down to third in the standings.
The mishap served to inspire Al Qassimi and Patterson, as after the service park stop, they proceeded to set impressive times throughout the final stages of the day, reeling in and passing Saudi driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi, to entrench themselves in second place by the end of the afternoon.
Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi reflected at the end of the first day: “We started the day very well with the difference between us and the leader down to about a second, which was part of the strategy to keep up the pressure throughout the day. Unfortunately on the third stage after a series of jumps we were hampered by dust which in the end cost us around 35 seconds. Fortunately we were able to recover our speed and comeback strongly. I think that on the second and final day we will be at our best and we will try as hard as possible to fight for the top spot.”
In the 2 wheel drive class, it was a bittersweet day for the UAE juniors, campaigning under the Abu Dhabi Racing banner, all in Citroën DS3 R3 rally cars. As three of the four entries were forced to retire, but at the end of the tough first day Mohammed Al Sahlawi and co-driver Craig Parry managed to avoid the bad luck that sidelined their teammates on their way eight place overall ahead of the final day on Saturday.
Mohamed Al Mutawaa and co-driver Stephen MacAuley who were struck by a mechanical problem that sidelined them, but should see them back in action on Saturday. Next on the list of unfortunate incidents was Saeed Bintowq and co-driver Alan Harriman who crashed out of proceedings, and finally the pairing of Mansoor Belhelei and Khalid Al kendi who suffered a broken driveshaft and forced them to retire from the rally.
The second and final day [Saturday] of the Kuwait International rally consists of fast and demanding six special stages totaling 105.74 km.