(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Abdul Aziz al Kuwari scripted one of the most memorable wins of his career when he clinched the 2014 Oman International Rally title at the Oman Automobile Association (OAA) on Saturday.
On a day that didn't witness any major upsets the script went according to the Qatari driver's plans. Having finished the penultimate day on Friday with a comfortable lead of two minutes 22.6 seconds he kept his cool and drove patiently on the concluding day to maintain the advantage and take home the title.
His strategy paid dividends and he could keep his nearest competitor Sheikh Khalid al Qassimi of Abu Dhabi Racing who emerged fastest in all the five stages of the day at bay in the race for the overall crown.
Kuwari admitted that he didn't take any risks in the final stages. 'I didn't want to risk my title-winning chances by putting pressure on my car. So I drove without losing my composure and everything went according to plan. The strategy worked well for me' he said.
'It is a fantastic feeling to win the Oman International Rally and the win will boost my team's morale as we prepare for the next rounds of the Middle East Rally Championship (MERC).'
Hailing the competition's challenging stages he said the Oman International Rally should find a place in the MERC. 'The stages had all the ingredients to test the skills of the drivers. It is an ideal venue to host the MERC' he said.
Though he missed the winner's trophy runner-up Qassimi had a remarkable outing as he threatened the eventual champion in all the special stages which helped him reduce the margin to just one minute 28.1 seconds.
'I was on the verge of quitting the rally on the second day due to a broken driveshaft. Somehow I managed to continue and the second-place finish is a big achievement. I won all the special stages today and slashed the margin considerably' Qassimi said. The rally driver also praised the younger members of Abu Dhabi Racing for their consistent show.
Sheikh Abdulla al Qassimi of Al Qassimi Racing finished third clocking a time of eight minutes 4.5 seconds behind the leader. 'We couldn't produce the best result as the track gave us a lot of trouble' said the veteran rally driver from UAE whose navigator Catherine Derousseaux was the lone woman driver in the competition.
Saif al Harthy and his co-driver Saif al Hinai in their Mitsubishi Evo X won the top honours for the best Omani national crew.
Overall standings (top five):
1 Abdulla Aziz al Kuwari (Qatar) 2 Sheikh Khalid al Qassimi (UAE) 3 Sheikh Abdulla al Qassimi (UAE) 4 Mohammed al Mutawaa (UAE) 5 Abdulla al Kuwari (Qatar).
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