Organisers are confident that the Middle East Rally Championship (Merc) will have two events in the UAE next year, with the Abu Dhabi Rally set to join the Dubai International Rally on the schedule.
The Abu Dhabi Rally reappears on Friday after an eight-year absence from the local scene, with an eight-stage race around Abu Dhabi.
Thursday night, 14 cars raced in a spectator stage at the Yas Marina Circuit.
But the return will only be fully complete if the sport’s governing body, FIA, agrees that the rally should join the Merc circuit next year. FIA observers are already here assessing what essentially amounts to a two-day candidate event.
Abu Dhabi was announced as a provisional host on the 2015 calendar in September and the event represents a final audition.
The return of the rally has been engineered by Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi over the last 10 months, in his capacity as chairman of the Abu Dhabi Racing Club (ADR). Sheikh Khalid, one of the region’s leading racers, will be taking part in the rally and is confident the event will be approved.
“This is the first time in a number of years the rally is happening here, and now it is being organised by ADR and Yas Motor Racing Club, which is a new club and which will be regulating all rally events.
“We have all the facilities and infrastructure at Yas Marina, and that will help. We want to begin with a low-key event to make sure we get FIA approval, and then in February, hopefully, we will have the official international event. That is when we become part of the calendar and I see we are very close to getting it.”
The country’s history of staging international motorsport events and the value of the set-up at Yas Marina means that when the candidacy is placed before the FIA later this year, approval is expected.
The FIA’s vice-president for the Mena region is in Abu Dhabi and is a strong backer of the bid. Nasser Khalifa Al Attiyah is eager to find and develop new territories for motorsport in the region. Abu Dhabi, which already hosts an F1 race, is an obvious candidate.
“The Abu Dhabi infrastructure is so strong and of such high quality,” he said. “On the organisational side, they are very professional and they already have a history of this before.
“So it’s adding value to the regional scene. There are rules and regulations they have to fulfill, but I supported this very strongly, to try and add more rallies in the region and this is part of our mission, to discover new terrain and markets.
“We are very happy with the set-up here, especially for Yas Marina to be the official office for race control and rally headquarters, that gives a lot of value.”
Al Attiyah will present the report from the event to the general assembly in Doha in December.
“We already want them in the calendar, they are already there for 2015,” he said. “We just need general assembly approval now.”
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
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