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Khalid Al Qassimi finishes as runner-up at Qatar rally

Competing in the Qatar International Rally in a DS 3 RRC, Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi and Chris Patterson finished second overall in the final standings.
After a puncture had left them languishing in eighth overall in the early part of the race, they fought back to grab second position after the thirteen stages.
Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi kicked off his racing season at the Qatar International Rally, the opening round of the Middle East World Rally Championship (MERC).

On such a demanding and tricky event, almost all of the drivers had their fair share of misfortune. In Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi's case, a puncture on stage three cost him around four minutes.

Relegated to eighth place, the Abu Dhabi Racing crew focussed on climbing back up the standings whilst only taking limited risks. Their strategy paid off quickly, as the DS 3 RRC had already moved back into the top three by the end of the first leg.

On Saturday, still aiming to close on the leading pair, Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi found the resources to grab second overall after the penultimate stage before then setting the fastest time on the day's final test.

"We had to do battle with two types of opponent during this Qatar Rally," commented Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi. "The first kind came in the form of the other drivers and the second was bad luck. We were nonetheless able to prove that we had the pace to fight at the front. We lost four minutes on the first day with a puncture and then a transmission problem cost us another two minutes the next day. But on the positive side, when everything went well, we showed that we were fast."