LE MANS: Qatar Endurance Racing Team (QERT) won the final round of the FIM Endurance World Championship in the Superstock category, the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) said in a statement yesterday.
The QERT team comprising of Australian duo of Anthony West and Alex Cudlin and Qatari riders Mashel Al Naimi and Saed Al Sulaiti produced the best time in the Superstock category despite being 7th overall at the start to win the 24H Le Mans race.
QMMF President Nasser bin Khalifa Al Attiyah expressed his delight after the foursome of West, Cudlin, Al Naimi and Al Sulaiti produced the win.
“Such an achievement is considered a real indicator of the team’s ability to achieve the best results on the international level, and there is no doubt that Qatar Endurance Racing Team now has a special achievement under its belt,” Al Attiyah said.
“This win would inevitably lead the team to post more achievements for Qatar, which is our utmost objective behind such participation,” Al Attiyah said.
Al Attiyah stated that the integrated performance of QERT - headed by the team manager Rashid Al Sulaiti - came against all odds.
Heavy rain and wet conditions made riding difficult, Al Attiyah said.
The QMMF President said winning against stronger European sides was ‘an absolute delight’.
Al Attiyah said QMMF management deserved credit for backing the riders and providing the aforementioned four riders with experience of competing against the top names in the world.
He said the team was well placed to corner future glory as QMMF had developed a mechanism that could provide young riders with opportunities to learn an excel at top events.
QERT Team Manager Rashid Al Sulaiti said: “We always had trust in these riders to do well. The team members Anthony West, Alex Cudlin, Mashel Al Naimi and Saed Al Sulaiti were brilliant. Since their performance was distinguished for the whole 24 hours, and they were responsible for achieving this brillant result for Qatar.”
Al Sulaiti kicked off the race course in brilliant fashion for QERT.
He did well until the 8th hour of the race and then slipped back to second spot for a while.
However, Al Sauliati restored the top spot going into the early hours yesterday.
Al Sulaiti said: “It was tough out there. We had 32 tops teams competing. We were monitoring each and every detail. Our plans and strategies paid off in the end.”
He added: “Today we are celebrating this new achievement. QMMF has recorded many wins in such races. We won this category three consecutive times in 2008, 2009 and 2010. We did it again.The Peninsula
