LIWA, ABU DHABI // It might be difficult to accept that a man who invests Dh1 million into a car can ever be regarded an underdog, but Yahya Al Helei can.
The Emirati, 56, is the quintessential David in a field of Goliaths at this week’s Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
The Dubai resident is the only driver to have competed in all 25 races since the event’s inception in 1991 and he has done so largely without the help of sponsors.
On Sunday, having paid from his own pocket to substantially upgrade his Nissan pick-up, he won the opening stage of the five-day FIA Cross Country World Cup event.
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It was the first time a local driver has beaten the factory teams in the T1 category. That million dirhams seemed to have done the trick?
Wrong. “You need a lot more if you want to be serious,” said Ivan Ingrilli, the team manager of Al Helei Racing, which includes Yahya’s pick-up and his son Mansour’s Nissan Patrol.
Ingrilli, from Australia, completed the work on the Nissan with the help of Powertec UAE, the garage he founded in 2008. He threw away the old engine, replaced the front and rear suspensions, shock absorbers and gearbox, rewired everything, added roll-bars and myriad other parts, and did it all while he “tried not to reinvent the wheel”.
“My brief to myself was to create something that can be maintained easily by somebody here,” he said.
While Al Helei’s €30,000 (Dh120,000) Nissan is now worth about €200,000, the Toyota Hilux afforded to Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi for his cross-country debut is worth in the region of €550,000. The Mini All4 Racing, driven by this year’s Dakar winner, Nasser Al Attiyah, would cost €800,000 to buy.
“We are just a little toy team competing against multimillion dollar manufacturers,” Ingrilli said. “It’s like that story about the little guy beating the giant. We like a challenge and this is certainly that.”
The bivouac for the 149 participants is located amid the mesmerising dunes of Liwa, about 30 kilometres from the Saudi Arabian border.
Aside from the idyllic Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort, the area is about as inhospitable as it is unforgiving: no shade, limited phone signal and scorpions scuttling across the sands.
While the vast KTM factory team stay at the hotel resort, the budget for Al Helei Racing does not stretch that far. Their five staff awake at 6am inside tents or, in the case of Ingrilli, on a zed-bed under the stars. Al Helei and co-driver Khalid Al Kendi sleep in a motorhome.
“This is budget racing at its best,” Ingrilli said from behind the wheel of his Nissan Titan, which will act as a service truck should Al Helei require assistance throughout the third stage.
On arrival at the start, a certain tranquillity was apparent among the drivers.
Al Helei is petting a camel while Al Kendi is puffing on a midwakh pipe. It proves to be the calm before the storm.
Al Helei’s Nissan arrived in Liwa after having completed only 300km of testing and despite Ingrilli wanting to have racked up 2,500km.
Peugeot reportedly ran 20,000km before this year’s Dakar Rally, while some factory teams competed in the season-opening race in Russia.
Yet confidence is high after Sunday’s surprise stage win. A disappointing Monday where they slipped to fourth overall is not enough to dampen spirits. “We are quietly confident,” Al Helei said. “Inshallah, we can win the stage.”
Moments later, the pick-up revs its engine and disappears into a cloud of dust. Teams are prohibited from communicating with their drivers as long as the race car is moving, so the next time Ingrilli will see or hear from them will hopefully be at the first checkpoint.
When Ingrilli reaches the designated area, he simply waits, hoping a familiar vehicle appears as quickly as possible.
Al Attiyah arrives at 10.44am. Al Helei must arrive before 10.59am if he is to close the gap on the leader.
Eleven o’clock comes and goes and there is still no sign of him. Ingrilli looks at his stopwatch with concern.
Eventually, Al Helei appears at 11.14am. He has lost a further 16 minutes on Al Attiyah, yet coasts through the check point giving a thumbs-up.
Ingrilli scratches his head. “Yahya and Khalid look fine, the car looks fine, there is no sign of a problem, so where have they been?” The question is as much to himself as any of the team.
He starts the Titan’s engine and heads to his next checkpoint. “Yahya’s going to need to pull a rabbit out if he wants to win.”
With no idea what issues have caused the delay, the tension has steadily built. Answers become shorter, the phone rings more, the sun creeps higher. When the phone rings at about 12.30pm, it is Al Kendi’s name that appears on the screen, which means the car has stopped.
Ingrilli takes the call. When he hangs up, his summary is succinct: “They have lost power. That’s our day over.”
At least it should have been. What unfolds is a good example of how dangerous the Empty Quarter can be.
With the Nissan stuck only 6km from the road, a deflated Ingrilli deflates his tyres to take the Titan into the desert to tow them out.
About 1km in, his clutch breaks and when a recovery truck arrives to pull the Titan out it also comes close to getting stuck in the sand.
After all three cars are safely extracted from the desert, Al Helei – having temporarily fixed his car – finishes the stage and is towed back to the bivouac by a clutchless Titan.
Sitting nearby is Al Attiyah talking to friends, while the KTM drivers are back at their luxurious resort.
For Ingrilli and his team, a long night awaits. Al Helei smiles. “This is life for us,” the Emirati said. “This is rally. Maybe tomorrow will be better.”
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
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