ABU DHABI // The Middle East Rally Championship reconvenes this weekend in Kuwait, with Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi intent on emulating his achievements of 2010, finishing atop the podium and usurping title rival Nasser Al Attiyah in the championship standings.
Leading a team of five Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team cars – including those belonging to the junior development squad – Al Qassimi goes into one of his preferred races trailing Qatar’s Al Attiyah by seven points after the opening round. The Emirati, who won in Kuwait City five years ago, said he is hoping to replicate the feat.
“Kuwait International Rally is one of my favourites because the stages are well defined, the terrain is less rugged compared to other rallies, but it is just as competitive,” said Al Qassimi, who will contest five rounds of the World Rally Championship. “I finished second last year, so we are aiming to repeat our performance of 2010 and come first this time around.”
Body: Al Attiyah, driving for Ford, is returning to the Gulf only days after racing his Fiesta to the WRC 2 Rally Guanajuato title in Mexico, alongside co-pilot Matthieu Baumel, who was making his WRC debut.
“We had a good fight all week, but we were very clever – conditions were tough and I used my head,” said Al Attiyah, who hoped to arrive in the Middle East today, in time for “a little of the recce and the pre-race formalities”.
“When you have a busy rally programme like we do this year, date clashes and tight deadlines to get flights are inevitable,” he said.
The Kuwait Rally features two days of desert rallying, which starts tomorrow and includes more than 250 kilometres of competitive action on a route just shy of 560km.
Meanwhile, a delegation of motorsport officials, including Jean Todt, the FIA president, and Pedro Almeida, a rally consultant to the Mena region, attended this week’s three-day FIA-Mena committee meeting in Kuwait City, which ended yesterday.
Almeida said the attendance of Todt showed the growing importance of the role of the Middle East and North Africa in motorsport. “The number of participating countries and the presence of the FIA president here show the importance the FIA gives to this region,” Almeida said. “We are all fighting to raise the level of the sport in this part of the world.”
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