Nasser Al-Attiyah Leads Provisional Qatar International Baja Standings

Qatari driver Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah, a six-time Dakar Rally winner and Middle East champion, took the provisional overall lead in the Qatar International Baja. The event is the penultimate round of the FIA World Baja Cup and FIA Middle East Baja Cup, as well as the fifth round of the FIM Bajas World Cup, with the motorcycle competition held under the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) and the car competition under the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA).

The second stage, the longest in the FIA World Baja Cup, lived up to expectations by presenting major navigational challenges, causing significant tyre wear and producing a high retirement rate amid elevated desert temperatures.

Al-Attiyah and his French navigator Max Delfino led the overall standings aboard an “Optimus MD Rallye” with a time of 3:05:15.3 hours. They finished 6 minutes and 15.3 seconds ahead of their nearest rivals after recording the fastest time on the 336.45-kilometre stage. Portugal’s Francisco Barreto and his compatriot navigator Paulo Fiúza placed second aboard a “Toyota Hilux IMT Evo” in 3:11:30.6 hours, while Qatar’s Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and Spanish navigator Oriol Mena finished third aboard a “Can-Am Maverick R” in 3:27:05.9 hours.

In the Challenger category, Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and Oriol Mena, competing with the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation team, delivered a strong performance that enabled them to occupy third place. In the Stock category, Qatar’s Abdulla Al-Rabban led the standings ahead of Saudi rival Majed Al-Thunayyan.

Italy’s Christiano Gabbarrini did not start, while David Mabbs’s challenge for the regional title ended because of gearbox failure at kilometre 58.69. Fahad Al-Fahad’s participation aboard an “Optimus MD Rallye” also ended because of mechanical problems at kilometre 70.83. Poland’s Konrad Dąbrowski and the UAE’s Khalifa Al-Bastaki led the provisional overall standings in the motorcycle and quad categories respectively.

In the motorcycle category, Duust Rally Team rider Konrad Dąbrowski began his pursuit of a fourth victory in Qatar from tenth position and quickly reached a highly competitive pace. Dąbrowski took first place with a time of 3:52.52 hours, while Britain’s Alec McInnes finished second in 3:48.36 hours and France’s Romain Dumontier placed third in 3:59.10 hours.

In the quad category, Saudi rider Ahmed Al-Jaber, leader of the FIM Bajas World Cup, avoided problems aboard his “Yamaha” and led the category in 4:52.50 hours with a margin of 2 minutes and 14 seconds. A time penalty subsequently dropped him to second place behind the UAE’s Khalifa Al-Bastaki, who took first place in 4:52.32 hours, while Saudi title contender Hani Al-Noumesi finished third in 5:00.20 hours.

Source: QNA

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