DOHA: FIA World Cup leader Vladimir Vasilyev and defending Dakar Rally champion Marc Coma will lead their respective car and motorcycle rivals from 18 countries into the start of the 2014 Sealine Cross-Country Rally at the Losail international circuit, north of Doha, today morning.
Ahead of a top class field entered in their respective rounds of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies and the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship are five days and 1,739.55km of punishing off-road competition through the deserts of Qatar.
Intense heat, wind and dust, coupled with tricky navigation and varied landscapes make this one of the most challenging events of its kind on the planet and a crucial test event for competitors keen to prepare for the next Dakar Rally.
Both car and motorcycle categories will not only feature the fight for individual glory, but also the battle between manufacturers for pride of place at the top of their respective championship classifications.
Mini takes on Toyota in the car category - through the X-raid and Overdrive Racing teams – and Team HRC Rally (Honda) lines up against the Red Bull KTM Factory Team in the two-wheel category.
Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Attiyah, President of Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) and FIA vice-president for sport MENA, held a minute’s silence during the motorcycle press conference for the Dubai-based British rider Cameron Waugh, who lost his life in an accident at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge two weeks ago.
“Our entries have strength in depth and we look forward to five days of exciting competition on the challenging route that our team at the QMMF has devised,” Al Attiyah said.
Abdul Salam Abu-Issa, CEO of the sponsoring Salam International Group, joined Al Attiyah initially before leading quad and motorcycle riders took centre stage.
Front-running drivers in the car category, including Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi, were then presented to the international and local media.
The host nation will be hoping that the talented rider Mohammed Abu Issa is able to match and beat Polish rival Rafal Sonik in the quad category.
“The experience I gained at the Dakar Rally will stand me in good stead, but Rafal (Sonik) is also very experienced in the Middle East and it will not be easy to beat him Abu Issa said.
“The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge was disappointing me with the engine problem and it cost me a lot of points towards the championship,” said Al-Rajhi.
“Now I am back with the Toyota team. I won with them in Russia and Italy. I want to get back into contention for the championship. It’s a busy time for me with the Jordan Rally next week and then Argentina the week after.”
The 2001 Dakar Rally winner Jutta Kleinschmidt and her former Italian navigator Fabrizia Pons have been chosen to run as the route verification team. The German became the first and only woman in history to win the Dakar with the Mitsubishi Ralliart team and she will pass through each stage in advance of the entrants to check the accuracy of the road book and to ensure that weather conditions haven’t caused any major changes to the terrain.
Today), motorcycles leave the start podium at Losail from 10.00hrs and begin the opening 164.18km selective section from 11.30am. Cars follow over the podium from 11.15am and commence the stage, which finishes 2.21km from the Sealine bivouac, at 12.45hrs. THE PENINSULA
