Another thrilling battles expected during the fifth round of Qatar Superstock 600 and Qatar Touring Car Championship

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The fifth round of Qatar Superstock 600 and Qatar Touring Car Championship will take place this weekend, 6^th & 7^th April under the floodlights of the Losail International Circuit as this round will be held at the evening.

Qatar’s Mashal Al Naimi is leading Qatar Superstock championship only by one point ahead of the defendant QSTK Champion, Saeed Al Sulaiti. In the previous round, Saeed took the first victory but in the second race, Mishal took the advantage that Saeed crashed in the penultimate lap and he won the second race.

The third in the standings is Nasser Al Malki with 136 points, who ended second in both races of last round and Abdullah Al Qubaisi is in fourth place with 108 points. Al Qubaisi showed a great performance in the last races when he was leading the first race during 7 laps and he is improving in each round.

‘This round will be very determinant as the competition is very tight with only one point between me and Saeed. Last round I found a good set up with my bike and despite the weather I managed to do good lap timings. I hope for this round, to start on Friday with good results and finish the round with two victories’ said Al Naimi.

‘Last weekend I lost the lead of the championship by 1 point after crashing out in race 2. At this point of the championship there is no room for mistake so I hope we are able to come up with the best setting. As always, I and the team will do our best to fight for the victory and lead the championship again. I want to thank everyone that has worked hard to get us where we are today and good luck to everyone this weekend’ Al Sulaiti said.

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.

In the Qatar Touring Car Championship, the championship title was already decided in the previous round and the QTCC title defendant, Abdullah Al Khelaifi clinched again the title for this season. Al Khelaifi has won all the previous rounds except last one who came second in both races.

Al Khelaifi is really looking forward to this last round ‘Excited to be back racing after the long break and hope all competitors who faced technical issues solved 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 that peace of mind and just enjoy racing without any pressure’ said Al Khelaifi.

Hamad Al Asam is second in the standings with 93 points and Adham Eldib is third with 78 points.

‘It will be an exciting last round of the season with a tough battle for the second place in the championship. I hope to repeat the excellent result of the previous round when I took the pole position and won the two races. After a long break, I am ready to race again, let’s see how it goes this weekend and I can get the second position overall’ stated Al Asam.

'Although I had a streak of bad luck in the last 2 rounds leading to me losing a potential 2nd position in the championship standing yet I am very optimistic and hopeful for the last round. I hope that my gearbox problems that haunted me for 4 continuous races will come to an end allowing me to grab 2 more podiums in the last round. Anything can happen and I hope a pleasant surprise allows me to regain my second position. In all cases Hamad whom I'm chasing for second position is a great driver yet if I manage to get him behind me my chances could be really high. Racing is full of surprises, I had my share of bad ones and I hope only good ones are left!" Eldib said.

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 also at the Paddock.

Qatar Superstock 600 and Qatar Touring Car Championship are organized by Losail Circuit Sports Club and Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation with Pirelli Qatar and Inside as sponsors of both championships.