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Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team’s Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi snatched a 12th place finish at an action-packed FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) Rallye de France this weekend, as teammate Mikko Hirvonen catapulted himself into title contention for the Drivers’ Championship with just two rounds left to run.
After three-days of intense driving, Abu Dhabi’s Flying Finn Hirvonen finished fourth, however an overnight exclusion of Petter Solberg from third, after his car was deemed under weight, promoted Hirvonen to joint second with an overall points tally of 196 – equal with drivers’ championship leader Sébastien Loeb, who retired from the rally in Friday’s opening leg with engine problems.
With just Rally Spain later this month and Wales in mid November left to contest, the result sets up a nail-biting end-of-season title battle with just three points covering the top three drivers – Loeb, Hirvonen and Sebastien Ogier, who took top honours in France.
“It’s unfortunate to inherit a position due to a rival’s misfortune, but at this stage of the season every point counts,” said Hirvonen. “We’ll go to the next round in Spain as joint leaders of the championship and with just two rounds remaining, the fight for the title is truly wide open. I aim to be on top form in Spain and an exciting conclusion to the year is in prospect. I can’t wait!”
The UAE’s most successful WRC driver, Al Qassimi, complimented his teammates success with a respectable follow-up to his career-best fifth-place finish in last month’s Rally Australia.
The 33-year-old Emirati driver ended day one in 16th position and steadily climbed to finish the rally in 13th spot after tackling over 337km of asphalt roads in the Vosges mountains in north-east France. The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA)-backed driver also benefited from Solberg’s penalty to climb to 12th.
“I’m pleased to have finished a difficult event which was my first asphalt rally for a year,” said Al Qassimi, competing in his third French Rally. “It was difficult to maintain confidence at times - with inconsistent damp patches covered in dirt and loose gravel that had been dragged onto the road by the cars ahead.”
The Emirati driver and his Ford Fiesta RS WRC co-driver Michael Orr took some positives out of finishing such a challenging event. “It was my first experience in the Ford Fiesta RS WRC using Michelin Pilot Sport tyres which performed well,” said the UAE driver dubbed the ‘The Flying Falcon’ by the international rally community. “So I’m happy to have finished the event by sustaining pace and consistency across the whole rally – it’s a shame I ended up a couple of positions short of scoring points.”
Al Qassimi’s Ford Fiesta RS World Rally Car carried a stylish black colour scheme after a massive petition on Facebook by fans keen for Ford to use the new-look they sported during testing in France in June.
Team Abu Dhabi – consisting of Al Qassimi and Production World Rally Championship (PWRC) drivers Bader Al Jabri and Majed Al Shamsi - reunites for round 12 of the 13-event season as the series heads into the season’s penultimate round in Spain from October 20-23.
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