Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi World Rally Team enjoyed a successful end to the Rally de Portugal — the fourth round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) — despite the extremely testing conditions on the Algarve on Sunday.
Norwegian Mads Ostberg and co-driver Jonas Andersson claimed a place on the podium after successfully negotiating the rain-drenched gravel stages to finish third, while the UAE’s Shaikh Khalid Al Qasimi, along with co-driver Chris Patterson, did well to finish ninth.
The only drivers to finish ahead of Ostberg were winner Sebastien Ogier, who had a 1 min 12.4 sec advantage on the third-place finisher, and Mikko Hirvonen. Ostberg was determined to win a stage on the third and final day on Sunday and he succeeded in the penultimate stage, before taking third in the final stage — a power stage, which further boosted his position in the overall drivers’ championship standings.
Meanwhile, Skydive Dubai Rally Team driver Rashid Al Ketbi and German co-driver Karina Hepperle finished 11th in the WRC 2 category. Rally de Portugal started off with a Super Special Stage in the Capital City of Lisbon in dry weather, giving no sign of the heavy rain that would follow over the next two days. But Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally driver Kris Meeke was one of the many drivers forced out of the rally before the first day was over.
Slippery road conditions prevailed in the second day, which saw Shaikh Khalid adopting a strategy similar to that of Rally Sweden, built on cautiousness and avoiding mistakes to safely reach the finish in their Citroen DS3 WRC. That enabled the Emirati driver a top 10 listing, while teammate Ostberg climbed to third place overall.
The short third and final day saw three special stages and Shaikh Khalid jumped to 9th position. Afterwards he said: “Citroen’s engineers did a remarkable job prepping and tuning the car to the standards I requested before the last day’s final stages. I was also alert to tweak my driving style to better adapt to the unstable road conditions posed by the change in weather, and this helped me avoid a number of mistakes other veteran drivers suffered.
“I knew I could have pushed harder and scored faster times, but I was able to pull enough self-restraint to play it safe and stay consistent at keeping a steady progress throughout the rally. Tough as it may be, I really enjoyed this year’s Rally de Portugal.”
The Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team now heads to Argentina to compete in the fifth round of WRC 2014 from May 8 to 11, but before that Shaikh Khalid will participate in the Jordan International Rally, round three of the Middle East Rally Championship, at end of this month.
