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Tribune News Network
DOHA
The fifth round of the Qatar Superstock 600 and Qatar Touring Car Championship will take place under the floodlights of the Losail International Circuit on Friday and Saturday.
Qatar's Mashel al Naimi is leading the Qatar Superstock championship with just one point ahead of defending champion Saeed al Sulaiti. In the fourth round recently, Sulaiti and Naimi shared the race wins to take their tally to 166 and 167 points, respectively.
Nasser al Malki is third with 136 points after finishing second in both the fourth round races, while Abdullah al Qubaisi is holding the fourth spot with 108 points. Qubaisi, who is fast improving in each round, showed a superb performance in the last round and was leading the first race in the first seven laps.
"This round will be very crucial as the competition is very tight with only one point between me and Saeed. In the last round, I found a good setup with my bike and despite the bad weather I managed to do good lap timings. I hope to get good results again and finish with two victories," Naimi said.
Sulaiti said there is no room for errors now."Last weekend, I lost the lead of the championship by one point after crashing in Race 2. At this point, there is no room for mistake so I hope I am able to come up with the best setting. As always, my team and I will do our best to fight for the victory and regain the championship lead."
In the Trophy category, Essa al Mutawa is leading with 165 points and Soud al Thani is second with 150 points. Kuwaiti rider Mohammad al Zaidan, after his third place last weekend, is third in the standings with 115 points.
The Qatar Touring Car Championship has already been decided in the previous round with Abdullah al Khelaifi defending the title. He won all but the last round in which he was second in both the races.
Khelaifi is really looking forward to this last round so that he could bounce back to the top of the podium again."I am excited to be back to racing after the long break and hope all competitors who faced technical issues have managed to solve them by now. I wish all the best for all drivers fighting for second and third overall this weekend. Fortunately, I secured the championship and can have the peace of mind and just want to enjoy racing without any pressure," he said.
Hamad al Asam is second in the standings with 93 points and Adham Eldib is third with 78 points.
On Friday, QSTK track activity will start at 16:00 with the Free Practice 1 and QTCC activity starts at 17:15 with Free practice 1. QTCC Qualifying will be at 19:45 followed by QSTK Superpole at 21:00.
On Saturday, QSTK Race 1 is scheduled at 17:30 and Race 2 at 19:55. For QTCC, the first race is at 18:40 and the second one at 21:00.
There is free entrance for all the fans at the Grandstand and the Paddock.
The Qatar Superstock 600 and Qatar Touring Car Championship are organised by Losail Circuit Sports Club and the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation with Pirelli Qatar and Inside as sponsors of both championships.
