NORWALK, Ohio: The second half of the 2013 NHRA season is off to a solid start for the Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Team, the two-time NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel World Champions owned by Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Thani.
The teams finished the first day of qualifying just outside Cleveland, Ohio in fifth and 10th place at the seventh annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, the 13th of 24 events making up the United States’ 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season.
Silver Al-Anabi driver Shawn Langdon, second in the season-long point standings, made a solid opening pass and was seventh after the first round of qualifying on the strength of a 3.913-second effort.
In the evening session, Langdon’s 3.802-second pass at more than 315mph was third quickest after his run, but three subsequent teams ran quicker than Langdon moving him down to the fifth qualifying position.
Langdon said: “Friday was a solid day of qualifying for the Al-Anabi team.”
He added: “We made a pretty good run in the afternoon, and that allowed us to run the car a little harder Friday night. A few teams ran a little bit quicker than we did, but the Al-Anabi team is right there. We are in good shape. We have two more rounds of qualifying where we can still improve our position, and be ready for race day on Sunday. We hope to win the race for Sheikh Khalid this weekend.”
Second-year Top Fuel driver Khalid alBalooshi, sixth in the Top Fuel point standings, also opened with a solid run and was eighth after the first pass of the day. AlBalooshi is 10th at the mid-point of the qualifying process.
AlBalooshi said: “Our Al-Anabi team made two good runs on Friday – we were consistent, and that is very good.”
He added: “We made a good run in the hot part of the day and a better run in the cool night air, but some other cars ran better than we did Friday night so we are 10th. We have two more rounds of qualifying so we can still improve our position.”
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