Young Qatari rider Abdullah Al Qubaisi took his first-ever double win in the Qatar Superstock 600 Championship this weekend at Losail International Circuit. He had a close battle with Saeed Al Sulaiti in both races.
In the first race, Al Qubaisi got his first victory of the season with a total time of 27:30.373 and crossed the finish line in front of the leader of the championship, Saeed Al Sulaiti, by 0.836 seconds.
Although Saeed Al Sulaiti started with a winning streak this season, he had a mishap in the last lap that allowed Al Qubaisi to overtake him. Mishal Al Naimi ended in third place.
The second race resulted with the same podium winners with Al Qubaisi winning only 0.080 seconds ahead of Al Sulaiti.
Al Qubaisi said:
I am very happy for my first double win in this championship. In the beginning, I tried to stay behind Saeed to save the tyres and the energy. In both races, I managed to pass Saeed in the last lap (turn 4 in race 1 and turn 16 in race 2) and took the victories. I have been working very hard and looking forward to the next round to continue with this great results.’
For Al Sulaiti, overall it was an amazing weekend. He said:
In the first race, I tried to maintain the tyres but the guys were very competitive. Unfortunately, in the last lap of the first race, I made a mistake and went off the track that allowed Abdulla to overtake me but I am really happy for him. He deserved the win as he has been working very hard.’
‘The second race was a fight between me and my student, Abdullah. In the last two laps, Abdullah was a bit aggressive and I didn’t want to take the risk and lose the championship points, so I decided to finish second, maintain the championship lead’ ended Al Sulaiti.
Al Sulaiti is still leading the championship with 140 points. Al Qubaisi takes the second place with 119 points. Al Naimi is third with 104 points.
Al Naimi was feeling unfortunate this weekend due to tyre issues he had during the race. He explained:
The bike was very good with the used tyres during the practice sessions but when I changed to new tyres for the race, I had a problem with the front fork and the bike was not good. I tried to push from the beginning but it was not possible so I changed all my strategy to just finish the race with the best result and be at the podium. For the next track day, I will try to do different settings and hope it will work better,’
In the QSTK Trophy, Jassim Al Thani clinched again another double win in his category with Mohamad Al Zaidan on the second spot in both races. For the first time in this season, Kuwaiti rider Mohammad Al Eidi finished in the podium in third place. Nawaf Al Shuaibi finished third in the second race at the Trophy category.
Jassim Al Thani is leading the QSTK Trophy championship with 150 points. Mohamad Al Zaidan is second with 120 points. Hassan Al Mansoori gets the third with 75 points.
Trophies were presented by Salem Al Mohannadi (QMMF Board Member), Mohamad Al Kubaisi, (QMMF Board Member), Abdulrazak Al Kuwari (QMMF General Secretary) and Khalid Al Remaihi (LCSC General Manager and Vice President)
The fourth round will be on 8 and 9 February 2019.
Visit the Losail Circuit Sports Club website for more information.