|
Athens : BP-Ford Abu Dhabi's Shaikh Khalid Al Qasimi wisely stuck to his safety-first strategy as the stages north-west of Athens claimed the weekend's first big-name casualties in Italian Gigi Galli and Norwegian Mads Ostberg.
After the first six stages, he was 15th in the overall standing.
After his first run through the morning stages, Khalid was in 15th place, 62 seconds behind Munchi's Federico Vilagra in 10th.
However, with boulders, the size of televisions littering the perilous Athens stages, Khalid's steady approach has pundits predicting he could earn his first WRC drivers' points this weekend.
Brushing aside plaudits
However, the Emirati brushed aside the plaudits.
"I've been cautious. This is a real endurance rally, a marathon. The first and second stages went well, but I went off in the third.
"I went too fast into a hairpin and overshot the corner - I only hit some small rocks and some sand so there wasn't much damage but I lost about 15 seconds," said Khalid.
"I'm getting the feeling though, perhaps earlier than I normally do, but there is still so much left in this event.
'Difficult day'
"Tomorrow is a long, rough, difficult day so I'm going to push this afternoon and try and gain some time.
"I'm focusing on one stage at a time, you can't get carried away, thinking about days two and three, you just have to stay concentrated and listen to the notes.
"I'm not thinking about my finishing position, just finishing. A good result in Greece is to finish. If my tactics result in a top-10 finish, great, but it's still early and anything can happen," he added.
|
