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First and Second for The BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team In Italy


Al Qassimi finishes X while Abu Dhabi Junior Drivers take second and third in Fiesta Trophy










BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team claimed a dominant one-two finish on Rally d’Italia Sardegna today.  Jari-Matti Latvala led from start to finish to claim his second career win in the FIA World Rally Championship,  29.4 seconds ahead of his team-mate Mikko Hirvonen after three days of tough competition on the Mediterranean island. Abu Dhabi’s Khalid Al Qassimi finished 15th in his Ford Focus after having climbed to seventh at the start of the day, before suffering a ten minute penalty as a result of problems in the final service on Saturday. Meanwhile the Abu Dhabi Junior drivers, competing in Sardinia in the Fiesta Sporting Trophy, had a very successful Italian debut with Bader Al Jabri and Majed Al Shamsi taking second and third place respectively. 

Competitors tackled 17 speed tests covering 347.12km over narrow, flowing and rough gravel tracks near Olbia during three days of competition.  Allied with searing temperatures, which topped 35ºC yesterday afternoon, the conditions placed big demands on cars, crews and tyres.  Latvala’s victory was his first since his maiden WRC success in Sweden in February 2008 and it was BP Ford Abu Dhabi’s first one-two result since Rally Japan in November 2008.  His win came the hard way, having the disadvantage of opening the special stages for the final two days, sweeping them clear of gravel to leave a cleaner and faster line for those behind. 

BP Ford Abu Dhabi driver Khalid Al Qassimi started the day in seventh place and he maintained the great form that had got him into the points positions in the first two of Sunday’s stages. Unfortunately for Al Qassimi, the difficulties that the team suffered in service on Saturday morning led to a ten minute time penalty being imposed on him retrospectively. Consequently, he restarted the day down the leaderboard, but soon climbed back to 10th until brake problems on the final stage cost more than four minutes.  "It was a difficult three days.  We had a lot of bad luck with brakes and power steering, and then the problems last night in service.  It’s a shame because we were going well yesterday and I felt we could have easily been in the points," said Al Qassimi.

The weekend’s stunning results for Abu Dhabi were added to by the hugely promising display of the Abu Dhabi Junior Drivers. Competing in the Fiesta Sporting Trophy at only the second WRC event of their careers, Bader Al Jabri and Majed Al Shamsi, came in second and third respectively, an impressive result for the two young drivers
The Championship enters its second half next month when the action moves to Greece for the Acropolis Rally of Greece on 11 - 14 June.

Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) – a leading supporter of the World Rally Championship and title sponsor of the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team, congratulated the team on a superb result:

“For BP Ford Abu Dhabi to get a one-two here in Sardinia is a wonderful achievement and we must congratulate every single member of the team on the historic result. Abu Dhabi is now a long-standing partner of world rally and is a great endorsement of the Emirate to be associated with a winning team in such an international sporting stage. We must also congratulate our Junior Drivers who are progressing very well in the Fiesta Sporting Trophy and the future looks extremely bright for Abu Dhabi in the world of rally.” said Ahmed Hussein, ADTA’s Deputy Director General.

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