Navigational errors and heavy penalties were commonplace, but local hero Al-Attiyah and Spanish co-driver Lucas Cruz Senra began a new partnership together with an emphatic victory in the cars’ category in a SAM-built Mercedes 35 CC supplied by Germany’s Sven Knorr.
“I was pleasantly surprised with the performance of the Mercedes,” admitted a delighted Al-Attiyah, as heavy rain fell at the rally finish. “With a little more power it will be a competitive force, for sure. The route was very difficult and quite technical in places. It was more like a cross-country rally than a Baja and I think, for the future, there should be more instructions and more caps in the road book, especially to give more support to the amateur teams.”
Dubai-based Briton David Mabbs and his French co-driver Xavier Caminada were delighted to finish a surprise second in their Toyota FJ Cruiser and the UAE’s Obaid Ali Hassan and Dodi Ali Hassan were third in a Nissan Patrol.
Qatar’s Adel Hussein Abdullah controlled proceedings in the quad category, once Australia’s Dennis Nikitopoulos suffered transmission woes and Emirati Obaid Al-Kitbi was badly delayed with navigational trouble. The vast majority of the field incurred time penalties for route deviations during the course of the day and Adel Hussein eventually found himself at the top of the entire motorcycle/quad leader board.
“I had a strategy and it worked for me today,” said an ecstatic Hussein. “I pushed in places and I am so happy to take this win.”
Dubai-based Briton Sunderland overcame his own navigational torment to emerge as the initial winner of the motorcycle category and the 450cc class on his Honda, with the UAE’s Mohammed Al-Balooshi shadowing him to the finish on a KTM. But a myriad of time penalties were imposed on several riders and Australia’s Justin Taylor, who had survived a puncture and his own share of problems, emerged as the winner of the two-wheel category, as a fierce thunderstorm delayed the podium finish in the desert.
The entire field of 19 cars, 10 motorcycles and three quads were able to make the start of what promised to be a punishing 243.68km of the Al-Kharara stage through the remotest deserts of southern Qatar.
Sam Sunderland and Al-Balooshi rode together at the front of the field through the early kilometres, but Rico Langer, Obaid Al-Kitbi, Ibrahim Bugla and Tonya Colson all missed a vital junction, headed down the wrong track and ended up well south of the actual route.
Numerous competitors found the navigation tricky, with Mark Powell following Colson down a wrong track and Al-Kitbi making it down as far as south as the Inland Sea before turning back and retracing his tracks.
2011 Qatar International Baja after Super Special 3 Cars
01) Al-Attiyah / Cruz Senra (QT/ES) I SAM Mercedes 35CC I 05:39:05
02) Mabbs / Caninada (GB/F) I Toyota FJ Cruiser I 06:12:47
03) Ali Hassan / Ali Balooshi (UAE) I Nissan Patrol I 07:22:14
04) Powell / Evans (GB) I Predator X-18S I 07:42:07
05) Barker / Hutton-Barker (GB) I Nissan Patrol I 08:09:07
06) Al-Mohana / Al-Sanad (KSA) I Nissan Patrol T2 I 08:28:29
07) Al-Maktoum / Marjan (UAE) I Land Rover 110 I 08:32:39
08) Al-Shamsi / Mohamed (UAE) I Nissan Patrol I 09:17:28
09) Al-Junaibi / Bu Hamaid (UAE) I Nissan Patrol I 09:59:02
10) Al-Helai / Mirza (UAE) I Nissan Patrol T2 I 12:45:48
2011 Qatar International Baja after Super Special 3 Bikes/Quads
01) Adel Hussein Abdullah (QAT) I KTM XC 525 (Quad) I 06:21:16
02) Justin Taylor (AUS) I Honda CRF 450X (450) I 06:25:49
03) Mohammed Balooshi (UAE)I KTM 530 EXC (Open) I 06:26:03
04) Sam Sunderland (GBR) I Honda CRF 450X (450) I 06:52:23
05) Nasser Hassan Al-Rabaan I (QAT) KTM 525 (Open) I 07:45:44
06) Rico Langer (GER) I KTM 690 (Open) I 09:02:41
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