Zakriya al Aufi wins first round of Oman Rally
AUSTIN, Texas: Lewis Hamilton captured pole position for the US Grand Prix as he seeks to seal a fifth Formula One title.
The Mercedes driver and reigning world champion set a track record of 1 minute 32.237 seconds on the Circuit of Americas in Austin, Texas, 0.061 seconds ahead of Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel.
However, Vettel has a three-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest and will be promoted to second to line up on the front row with Hamilton, whose team-mate Valtteri Bottas was fourth. “That was very important, it was close,” Hamilton said. “These guys ... I didn’t know how close it would be. I knew it was edgy between us and would require some solid laps - the first one was decent but not enough and the second one was better.”
He added: “We’ll see what happens tomorrow, the Ferraris are quick. I hope for better weather for everyone watching, and I hope it’s an exciting race tomorrow.”
It was an 81st career pole position for Hamilton, who will retain the Formula One title if he wins on Sunday and Vettel comes third or worse. Vettel will have to start from fifth place following his three-place grid penalty for failing to slow down quick enough under a red flag during practice.
“I was pretty close, obviously it is a shame we missed out on that time. Six hundredths, you always think you had that time in you,” Vettel said.
“It has been dry today and better, the wind has made it tricky but it is the same for everyone. I’m happy that we are back in range, not in the wet, but the dry and today has been surprisingly close.”
Raikkonen said: “I don’t have much to lose - we will try and make a good start and go from there to see what we can do but it should be OK.”
Hamilton is close to joining Juan Manuel Fangio on five world titles,behind only German great Michael Schumacher on seven. Zakriya al Aufi and his co-driver Ammar al Balushi clinched title in the first round of Oman Rally, organised by Oman Automobile Association (OAA), on Friday.
The opening round of 2018-19 season saw tough competition among nine drivers who took part in the race. Al Oufi on his Mitsubishi Evo 9 was crowned the champion while Oman Top Team represented by Abdullah al Rawahi and co-driver Atta al Balushi on Subaru Empreza finished second. Hamed al Qasmi and co-driver Mazin al Nadabi on Mitsubishi Evo 8 claimed the third place.
In T-3 category, Mohammed Bahwan won the first place and Khalid al Shanfari finished second. Abdullah al Zubair and co-driver Faisal al Raisi were positioned third.
At the end of the race, Falah bin Omair al falahi, Board member of OAA, distributed the prizes to the top place winners in all categories.
All the nine competitors in the rally went through four stages and the route was between Sowaal and Amqat towns in Bidbid for a distance of 76 km. Driver’s skills and experience tested within the route which was one of the familiar path as it was included in Oman Rally in 2015.
“We are very proud with our achievement at this round of rally. We were able to keep the lead for three rounds after tough competitions. We are looking forward to maintain the performance in the upcoming rounds of the rally,” Zakriya al Aufi said.
“This is my fourth participation in the rally and second experience as a main driver.”
“I used to win Oman Youth Rally trophy for four wheel drives category and I won the title with driver Khalid Somar. I gained my experience from top drivers in the Sultanate including Khalid Soomar and Hamed al Wahaibi. I’m also well accustomed with the routes in this rally,” Al Aufi concluded.