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Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing team qualifies sixth

The world famous endurance race starts on Saturday with 55 cars participating.

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Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing will start on third row at the Le Mans Race. — Supplied photo

Dubai — Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing qualified sixth within its class during Thursday night’s qualifying session for the Le Mans 24-hour race — Round 3 of the world endurance in France. The world famous endurance race starts on Saturday with 55 cars participating.

The result comes after three qualifying sessions on the “Le Sarthe” circuit at Le Mans where the team consisting of UAE champion Khaled Al Qubaisi along with his teammates Christian Reid and Klaus Bachler, managed to set the third fastest time in the first practice session on Wednesday night aboard the Porsche 911 RSR within LMGTE AM class. The red flag dominated all three sessions, resulting in session suspensions which affected the results.

On the qualifying session at Le Mans, Al Qubaisi said: “As I have mentioned previously, qualifying at Le Mans isn’t as important as the main race; it’s a very long one race and the overtaking opportunities are high, we started in sixth last year and came second. We participated in three qualifying sessions, setting up fourth position in the first session. We tried to improve our position during the second and third sessions but the other teams were faster than us, pushing us down the grid to 6th place.”

Finally the UAE champion backed by Emirates Global Aluminium and Etihad Airways added: “We have a specific strategy this year, based on maintaining the car’s reliability and functionality throughout the race; we aim to get a good result with our eyes firmly set on the podium”.

This year’s World Endurance Championship calendar consists of eight rounds, including the German Nurburgring circuit instead of Sao Paulo circuit in Brazil.

The Championship rounds are: 6 hours of Silverstone on April 12, 6 hours of Spa Francorchamps on May 2, Le Mans 24 Hours on June 13, 6 Hours of Nurburgring on August 30, 6 hours of Circuit of the Americas on September 19th Circuit, 6 hours of Fuji on October 11, 6 hours of Shanghai 6 hours on November 1, wrapping up the championship at Bahrain International Circuit on November 21.

• Local Sports