2013 NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel World Champion Shawn Langdon is first and Dubai driver Khalid alBalooshi is sixth for the Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel team, the three-time and defending NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel World Champions owned by His Excellency, Sheikh Khalid Bin Hamad Al Thani. The teams are qualifying for the 45th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, the third of 24 events making up the United States’ 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season. Qualifying resumes Saturday with eliminations set for Sunday. Langdon was on an excellent pass in the first qualifying attempt when the tires on the silver Al-Anabi dragster began losing traction near the end of the run so the 2013 World Championship driver ended the run early. Despite the early end, Langdon was still third after the first session. In the late-afternoon session, Langdon made a brilliant pass reaching the finish line in just 3.786 seconds at more than 320 mph, and at the mid-point of the qualifying process, Langdon is first. “In the first session, we were probably on a 3.79 or so pass and then it started to haze the tires,” Langdon said. “The car was close to getting out of the racing groove so I shut it off a little bit early. In the second session, we were able to do what we were trying to do earlier, and that was to go a 3.78. We have some of the best air conditions that we’ve seen here in years. It’s a matter of applying that horse power to the racetrack without spinning the tires, and that’s been a little bit of the issue with Top Fuel cars. Fortunately, we were able to manage it pretty well on Friday. We hope to do that the rest of the weekend and make Sheikh Khalid proud on Sunday.” AlBalooshi also had some problems in the first qualifying attempt and was 11th entering the second session where crew chief Jason McCulloch made a masterful run covering the racing surface in 3,847 seconds at nearly 317 mph. AlBalooshi, second in the current point standings, is sixth after the first day of qualifying. “The track has been tricky with everybody,” alBalooshi said. “A lot of people have been struggling to keep the car in the groove, but I know everything will be OK for our Al-Anabi team. Shawn is No. 1 now so it was a good day overall for our team. Im so, so excited to get the car back on the track on Saturday; I know our team will be better and better and better and that we will be ready to race for Sheikh Khalid on Sunday.”
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 09:15:25 +0000
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