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King of the Jumps Khalid leaps to new record at Rally Finland

Shaikh Khalid Al Qasimi lived up to his name of King of the Jumps when recording a huge 55-metre leap.

  • By K.R. Nayar, Senior Reporter
  • Published: 23:35 August 3, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Shaikh Khalid Al Qasimi of Abu Dhabi hits a jump during the rally.
  • Image Credit: Supplied picture

Jyvaskyla, Finland: Shaikh Khalid Al Qasimi lived up to his name of King of the Jumps when recording a huge 55-metre leap.

The World Rally Championship officials confirmed that Shaikh Khalid's jump was 10 metres more than that of Sebastian Loeb, who won the rally, and runner-up Mikko Hirvonen.

"I jumped so high that I could almost see Abu Dhabi's Emirate Palace hotel from the car window," joked Shaikh Khalid, who hit the jump crest at a speed in excess of 150km/h.

"The car has been really great and so it has given me the opportunity to push a little harder, especially on the right stages. We had a moment on one of the corners of stage 15 where I went into a bush, so I got back on the track and gave it everything," he added.

Further elaborating on his jump, he said: "I was going flat out in fifth gear when I hit the jump and the car was really high off the ground. I couldn't see any of the crowd below. I thought there would be a big impact on the car when I landed, but it was fine."

Shaikh Khalid, who is the pride of the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally team, has now broken his own record of 36m jump which he set during Rally Sweden to win the inaugural Colin Crest longest jump competition.

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