Serving as round four of the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies, the Qatar event covered a distance of 1,373.82km across five days and threw up unfamiliar surrounds for the Abu Dhabi Racing team.

Saturday’s final Al Zubara stage over a distance of 343.32km posed its own unique challenges, as Al Qassimi set out to balance his pace and protect his overnight position.

The result could have been even better for the team but for navigational issues on days two and three, where they lost precious time after Al Qassimi lost his way on several occasions.

Relatively new to endurance racing, Al Qassimi was pleased with his fourth place and the opportunity to develop his skills even further.

“It was a very difficult day for us as we started as the first car and we got lost after about 48km and so I decided to follow the cars in front of me,” he said. “But when I passed them I got lost again and it was really frustrating because I think I got lost about four times and maybe lost over seven minutes in the process.

“The important thing is we finished and it is a big learning curve for me and I need to learn a lot more in this kind of rally and gain a lot more experience, it is not easy. If you put me back on the stage, I will get lost again.

“The performance of the car is fantastic, that is why I won one stage and was second before that. My team tells me that if we don’t lose direction we can be in the top three which shows the performance is there. The learning curve continues for me.”

Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi Racing Junior Rally Programme driver Mansour Belhelei and co-driver Chris Patterson finished second overall in the T2 category aboard their Toyota Prado.