2014 Rally Portugal: Ogier takes comfortable victory
Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 3rd in Portugal; Al Qassimi inks in gold his name amongst the top ten finalists
2014 Bahrain Grand Prix Results: Hamilton wins breathtaking race

Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 3rd in Portugal; Al Qassimi inks in gold his name amongst the top ten finalists

Today saw the end of 16 special stages of Rally de Portugal, 4th Round of the FIA World Rally Championship, the Rally which proved the hardest yet for the 2014 season of WRC, due to the volatile weather conditions that drenched the gravel road stages, turning them into muddy and slippery roads which had everyone uptight throughout the Rally stages. With the end of Rally Portugal predicament, the Norwegian Mads Østberg and Co-driver Jonas Andersson were hard at filching 3rd rank points and winning the last stage “Power Stage” for the benefit of Abu Dhabi World Rally Team, while Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi endured a steady trail, coupled with wit and careful determination to climb the ladder of the overall WRC rankings to finish the rally alongside Co-driver Chris Patterson in 9th place.

Rally de Portugal started off with the Super Special Stage in the Capital City Lisbon in dry weather, that of which later turned out a nightmare to all drivers due to heavy rains over the two following days, and was fast at shattering the hopes of many renowned participants in WRC, the likes of Latvala, Sordo, and even Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally driver Kris Meeke, before the first day of the rally was over.

FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2014

Slippery road conditions persisted well into the second day which saw Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi and Co-driver Chris Patterson adapting a strategy similar to that of Rally Sweden, built on cautiousness and avoiding mistakes to safely finish the rally on board their Citroën DS3 WRC, and enabled the Emirati World driver a top 10 listing in WRC. Meanwhile, Norwegian teammate Mads Østberg and Co-driver Jonas Andersson were at the heart of the battle to make podium, and were able to advance to claim 3rd place for Abu Dhabi World Rally Team in the temporary overall Rally de Portugal standings.

The short 3rd and final day of Rally de Portugal, which saw three special stages, was of no real concern for Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi, who opted out of risk-taking, especially since he was able to jump to 9th position after stage 14, noting: “Citroën engineers did a remarkable job prepping and tuning the car to the standards I requested prior to the last day’s final stages of Rally de Portugal. I was also alert to tweak my driving style to better adapt to the unstable road conditions posed by the change in weather, and this helped me avoid a number of mistakes other veteran drivers suffered”. He added: “I knew I could have pushed harder and score faster times, but I was able to pull enough self-restraint to play it safe and stay consistent at keeping a steady progress throughout the rally; tough as it may be, I really enjoyed this year’s Rally de Portugal”.

Abu Dhabi Wave_RdP 2014

On the other hand, Mads Østberg clinched hard to 3rd position in the overall standings, and was keen at keeping his promise when he announced that: “The rally is extremely tough, and the drivers ahead of me are far and it seems impossible to catch up, but I will do my best to win one of the final day’s stages”. True to his words, the Norwegian was able to win the stage before last of Rally de Portugal making 3rd in the final stage (Power Stage), which gave the Abu Dhabi World Rally Team driver an additional 3rd position point to enrich his overall drivers’ championship standings.

With Rally de Portugal at an end, Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team heads to Argentina to compete in the 5th round of World Rally Championship 2014 from 8 – 11 May, while Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi returns to the Middle East to participate in Jordan International Rally, 3rd round of Middle East Rally Championship, held at end of this month.

Rally Portugal Final results Fourth round of World Rally Championship 2014

1. OGIER Sebastien/Julien Ingrassia/ Volkswagen Polo R WRC / RC1 / 3:33:20.4

2. HIRVONEN Mikko/Jarmo Lehtinen   / Ford FiestaRS WRC / RC1/ +43.2

3. OSTBERG Mads/Jonas Andersson / Citroën DS3 WRC / RC1 / +1:12.4

4. MIKKELSEN Andreas/Mikko Markkula / Volkswagen Polo R WRC           / RC1 / +4:50.5

5. SOLBERG Henning/Ilka Minor / Ford Fiesta RS WRC / RC1 / +5:10.2

6. PROKOP Martin/Jan Tománek / Ford Fiesta RS WRC / RC1 / +8:27.2

7. NEUVILLE Thierry/Nicolas Gilsoul / Hyundai i20 WRC / RC1 / +8:32.3

8. HÄNNINEN Juho/Tomi Tuominen     Hyundai i20 WRC / RC1 / +8:51.6

9. AL-ATTIYAH Nasser/Giovanni Bernacchini Ford Fiesta RRC S2000 / RC2 / +10:14.7

10. KETOMAA Jari/Kaj Lindstrom / Ford Fiesta R5      RC2 / +10:26.3

13. AL QASSIMI Khalid/Chris Patterson / Citroën DS3 WRC / RC1 / +15:04.4