The two-day event got off to a rousing start and all the action was highlighted by Raffii’s late heroics.
Yesterday’s programme also featured two of the region’s other top categories, namely the BIC 2,000cc Challenge and the Maserati Trofeo JBF RAK Middle Series.
Stephen Kellogg captured his season’s fifth straight pole after narrowly topping the qualifying time sheets for the BIC 2,000cc’s first race of round five. Meanwhile, Fahad Al Gosaibi claimed the leading grid position for race one of round two in the recently launched Maserati Trofeo series.
All the excitement continues today (Saturday, January 7, 2012) with two races apiece in each of the three championships. All are welcome to attend and watch the best of Arab circuit racing only at ‘The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East’.
Raffii clocked qualifying’s quickest mark of one minute 35.534 seconds, earning him first position as the chequered flag came down to close the session.
Raffii pipped Batelco Racing Team’s Ramez Azzam, who was 0.082 seconds off the pace. VIVA Racing Team’s Raed Raffii will start third as he clocked 0.115s behind.
“This is great; it’s our first pole of the championship and it rewards all the hard work of the entire team, but we know that we have to keep this high level up in order to achieve our goal of both cars finishing on the podium in both races tomorrow,” Faisal Raffii, said.
“After coming out of the pits for a second stint, I knew that I could do it and get some more out of the car. I’m glad that’s what we were able to do, but now there will be pressure on us as everyone will be targeting us. But I trust in our team, and hopefully we can continue this good run.”
“We knew we were capable of getting pole and we were confident we could do it. It’s great to finally get that first one and we believe we can build on this success with good results tomorrow,” Alba Racing Team manager Nasser Al Qaseer, said.
Abdulrahman Ghuloom will start from third after finishing 0.303s back, while defending champion Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, who was competing for the first time since the season’s opening round held last year, joined him in row two after qualifying 0.687s off the pace.
Fahad Al Gosaibi of Saudi Arabia marked his dazzling debut in the Maserati Trofeo JBF RAK Series by taking pole position for race one of the season’s second round.
Al Gosaibi registered a best lap time of 1:28.758 to claim first place in just six laps of work, while Patrick Zamparini of Italy finished second with a 0.222s gap.
Justino de Azcarate Riiveroll of Venezuela was third, while Lebanese pair Joe Ghanem and Ziad Ghandour rounding out the top five.