Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi has said he will use the Rally de Portugal as a “learning curve” as the Abu Dhabi Racing chairman prepares for his return to the World Rally Championship (WRC).
Sheikh Khalid completed testing the new Citroen C3 WRC in Sardegna, Italy ahead of this weekend’s race, which begins on Thursday and concludes on Sunday.
Competing alongside co-driver Chris Patterson in Portugal, Sheikh Khalid will end a near six month absence from the WRC while contending with the new set-up in the new car.
“We made three important observations: Firstly, we had to understand the car and its new features. The C3 WRC is a totally new car for me so I had to learn each switch and key in the car before we got down to the actual test session,” Sheikh Khalid said after completing nearly 190 kilometres in the testing sessions.
“Secondly, we had to understand the character of the car and how it handles, specifically with regard to the speed and set-up in general.
“Thirdly, during the test, we had to make plenty of changes to suit my driving style and I hope those changes work well for us during the rally. I really need to put in a lot of mileage to get used to the new car. It is a new learning curve for me.
“We covered 186km of testing but that was not enough to get the required confidence. The real test will be during the rally and then we will be able to get more information which will permit us to build confidence gradually behind the wheel on the car.”
The Rally de Portugal will run over a total distance of 1,529km of which 349.17km comprise of competitive stages and the remainder will be liaison sections.
Following the Spectator Stage on Thursday (3.36km), drivers will then tackle eight special stages over about 148km on Friday and a further six special stages on Saturday covering a little over 154km. Sunday, the final day, comprises of four special stages over a distance of nearly 43km.
* Agencies
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