The 2011 Qatar International Baja gets underway at the Sealine Beach Resort, south of Doha, on Friday morning. A bumper entry of cars, motorcycles and quads will tackle two days of competitive action in this new candidate event for inclusion in the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies.
Taking a break from his quest to win back his FIA Middle East Rally Championship title and finalising his WRC programme for 2012, Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah teams up with the 2010 Dakar-winning co-driver Lucas Cruz Senra from Spain, for the first time to start as the top seed in the car category in his German-built SAM Mercedes 35CC. The Qatari is relishing the prospect of winning his third Qatar Baja in different cars and with three different co-drivers.
Al-Attiyah has encyclopaedic knowledge of Qatar’s desert terrain and is the undoubted favourite for success provided that the new SAM Mercedes is reliable. “The SAM-Mercedes drive is a great opportunity for us to test the new car and give technical feedback to Sven Knorr and his team from Germany,” said Al-Attiyah. “Maybe we will do another event with them in 2012, but I am confident that the car will be competitive.”
The Qatari’s competition is evenly matched and includes a truly international field of entrants from the Ukraine, England, Wales, France, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, Canada and Oman.
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