Bahrain, Mar 16: At the end of the first day in Bahrain Al-Qassimi trailed by 51 seconds to UAE's Rashid Al-Ketbi in a Mitsubishi Lancer. But by the end of the 11th stage on day two, Al-Qassimi had fought back to take the lead by just one second. Al-Ketbi retired on the next stage with a seized engine. That left Al-Qassimi with a clear lead and he won by two minutes 28 seconds from Andreas Tsouloftas of Cyprus in a Mitsubishi Lancer. Another Lancer driver, Michel Saleh of the UAE, was third, seven seconds further behind. Amjad Farrah of Jordan in another Lancer was fourth, 3.30 back. Al-Qassimi's win gave him a total of 18 points in the championship standings, eight clear of Al-Attiyah and Farrah. Tsouloftas was on eight points, two ahead of Saleh, Qatari Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and Essa El-Dossari of Saudi Arabia.


Bureau Report