May 7, 2015 – Abu Dhabi Racing leader Sheikh Khalid bin Faisal Al Qassimi and co-driver Chris Patterson battled competition and uncertain conditions to hold a strong third place going into the final day of Shiraz International Rally in Iran today.
The pair were running well until SS1 and SS2 when they were in second, but lost around 21 seconds on SS3 before the mid-day break and slipped down to third.
Sheikh Khalid explained: “This is our first outing here in Shiraz; the Citroën DS 3 RRC is fantastic driving in the open but difficult on the more twisty sections, and believe me there are plenty of them.
“And then the weather turned, it started raining big time, which made life really difficult as we had already lost time on SS3. Last stage was wet!”
However, Sheikh Khalid added: “The difference to the leader is substantial but we can still catch up with the second placed: eight more stages to go tomorrow, anything can happen.”
The second day of Shiraz Rally, on Friday, will see competitors tackle eight more stages (124.2 Km) before the finish at around 14:30 UAE time.