June 4, 2015 – The UAE’s World Endurance and Circuit champion, Khaled Al Qubaisi heads back from France with his team, “Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing” after participating in Le Mans 24-hour pre-race test day, in preparation for the 83rd edition of the legendary endurance race, which will take place on 13th & 14th June.
Backed by Emirates Global Aluminium and Etihad Airways; Abu Dhabi Racing driver Khaled Al Qubaisi is participating for the second year in a row in the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) with the Abu Dhabi-Proton racing team along with his team mates Christian Ried and Klaus Bachler. The championship reached its 3rd round, at the French city of Le Mans, where Al Qubaisi and his team put in a strong performance of last year’s edition and came second in the LMGTE Am class aboard the Porsche 911 RSR.
Although the day consisted of two 4 hours test sessions, the erratic rain showers prevented several teams from taking advantage of the test day. Khaled Al Qubaisi, said: “Initial forecasts indicated sunny conditions at Le Mans, but that didn’t prevent unpredictable showers for a full hour. We decided to stay in the pits as the track conditions weren’t dry enough for slicks and not wet enough for wets. So the team decided to wait till the last hour of the session where the track was in better condition.”
“During the 2nd session, conditions were better but not fully dry; I only managed five laps before the rain started pouring down again. Overall, the conditions weren’t perfect but good enough for testing. While we didn’t manage to find the best car setup for the race on the day, we will be able to work on that during the weekend. We did manage to get the feel of driving on the circuit again and get the car safely back to the garage after several hours which some other teams were not able to do”.
This year’s World Endurance Championship calendar consists of eight rounds, including the German Nurburgring circuit instead of Sao Paulo circuit in Brazil. The Championship rounds are: 6 hours of Silverstone on April 12, 6 hours of Spa Francorchamps on May 2, Le Mans 24 Hours on June 13, 6 Hours of Nurburgring on August 30, 6 hours of Circuit of the Americas on September 19th Circuit, 6 hours of Fuji on October 11, 6 hours of Shanghai 6 hours on November 1, wrapping up the championship at Bahrain International Circuit on November 21.
The 2015 Le Mans 24-hour race Schedule
Free Practice Wed 10th Jun – 18h00
Qualifying Practice Thu 11th Jun – 00h00
Qualifying Practice Thu 11th Jun – 21h00
Qualifying Practice Fri 12th Jun – 00h00
Warm-Up Sat 13th Jun – 11h00
Race Sat 13th Jun – 17h00