The circuit racing and endurance star Khaled Al Qubaisi headed to France a day after Emirates Global Aluminium – the equally owned company by Mubadal (Abu Dhabi) and (Dubai Company for Government Investments), and Abu Dhabi Racing announced his participation in the complete season of the World Endurance Championship 2014. Held at the notorious Paul Ricard Circuit, Al Qubaisi put his Porsche 911 RSR to initial testing along with his teammates of “Proton Competition”, and confirmed that both car and team are highly prepared for this year’s World Endurance Championship.
“I started my testing sessions at the striking Paul Ricard Circuit with Proton Competition on board Porsche 911 RSR with a highly professional team and the strong presence and support of the Porsche Factory team”, Al Qubaisi added: “We only had 2 days to wrap-up our testing sessions and get familiarized with the car, which is a whole new experience and also a call for joy resulting from the amount of experience it yields, especially with the vital information provided by the engineers of the Porsche Factory, which highly contributed to the car’s tune-up standards to the point of complete satisfaction with the car’s performance by the end of the testing”.
Despite his new introduction to the team, Al Qubaisi feels akin to the German team due to the common passion both Al Qubaisi and Proton Competition Team have for Auto Sports and the will to compete and achieve victory, noting: “I feel extremely comfortable amongst the team of Proton Competition, with positive vibes and the thrill to avail triumphantly at the helm of our common interest. Subsequently, both team and engineers were extremely excited to end the initial testing to perfection, with the constant objective of achieving wins on board our Porsche 911 SRS this season”.
Al Qubaisi added: “We have an extremely professional team capable of leading and winning, and that is highly important. I’ve personally known my teammate, the highly talented young Austrian Klaus Bachler since his participation in the Supercup race; his positive attitude is a much needed recipe to be savored in Endurance Racing which requires patience and consistency. Christian Ried, owner of Proton Competition, is the third driver of our team, with a joyous spirit and a helping hand flat out supporting the team and enforcing their self-esteem, it feels great working with him. I am very relaxed with the team, and happy to represent the United Arab Emirates in all rounds of the World Endurance Championship under the badge of Abu Dhabi Racing. Again, I am thankful for Emirates Global Aluminium for supporting me this season”.
The Emirati Circuit Racing Star heads to Great Britain with his German Teammates to prepare for their first World Endurance Championship rounds hosted at Silverstone Circuit on 20 April in the LMGTE AM class on board Porsche 911 RSR. Speaking of his 6hrs British race strategy, Al Qubaisi noted: “We need to make good use of our free practice at Silverstone to reach the perfect setup of the car, then pursue the objective of finishing the race at the podium; the mission is tough with many teams fiercely competing to win, but I have a feeling it can be achieved”.
The World Endurance Championship is considered somewhat a new championship which falls under the umbrella of Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), with 2014 marking the 3rd season of this championship which consists of 8 rounds, namely: Silverstone 6hrs (Great Britain – 20 April), Spa-Francorchamps 6hrs (Belgium – 3 May), Le Mans 24hrs (France – 14-15 June), the Americas 6hrs (Austin, TX – USA), Fuji 6hrs (Japan – 12 October), Shanghai 6hrs (China – 2 November), Bahrain 6hrs (Kingdom of Bahrain – 15 November), and the final race of the championship in Brazil at Sao Paolo 6hrs (30 November).