Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah and Spanish co-driver Pablo Moreno unleashed the potential of their lightweight Taurus T3 Max to top the times in the car category on the 10.01km Prologue that determined the start order for today’s opening special stage of the Qatar International Baja.
Thirty-six cars, 59 motorcycle and five quads were flagged away from the ceremonial start at the iconic amphitheatre in Katara Cultural Village by Qatar Motor & Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) President Abdulrahman al-Mannai and Executive Director Amro al-Hamad in the presence of several guests yesterday evening. In addition, two drivers are competing at the rear of the field in an Open class.
The start ceremony for competitors from an impressive 33 countries followed an afternoon Prologue to the west of Lusail where joint FIM championship leader David Megre and Emirati Abdulaziz al-Ahli were quickest in their respective motorcycle and quad categories.
The Prologue result counts towards the overall classification in FIM Bajas World Cup events and Megre managed to finish 7.5 seconds clear of Great Britain’s Robert Wallace on his KTM.
Even though the Prologue doesn’t count towards the general classification in the cars, al-Attiyah proved that vehicles entered in the Challenger category are a serious threat this weekend. He won the stage by 12.2 seconds from his brother Khalifa, despite picking up a 15-second penalty for missing gates on the stage.
The FIA World Baja Cup’s Challenger category leader Edouard Pons has joined forces with Nasser Racing and is competing in Qatar for the first time. The Spaniard guided his Taurus to fourth place behind the al-Attiyah brothers and the recently-crowned FIA Middle East rally champion Abdulaziz al-Kuwari.
Czech Miroslav Zapletal and Joao Ferreira rounded off the top six after Portugal’s Joao Dias was also penalised for missing route gates.
Denis Krotov drove the new petrol-engined version of the X-Raid Mini JCW Rally for the first time and finished eighth, one place behind Dania Akeel, but he will be in a position to follow the tracks of his rivals today. Ahmed al-Kuwari and Abdullah al-Haydan rounded off the top 10.
Ferreira has recently been crowned as the 2024 FIA European Baja Cup champion and drives a Santag Racing Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR in in the SSV section in Doha. The Portuguese said: “I’ve never been here. It is my first time but my co-driver told me it’s very difficult navigation, a lot of tracks and a hard task for him. But it’s part of the game and we need to think on the championship. That’s our main concern.”
Fernando Alvarez is the current leader of the FIA World Baja Cup. The Argentina-based Spaniard finished 19th. He said: “I am happy to be in the Middle East. The desert is better for me. I drive much better and have more confidence in the dunes or open road and Xavier (Panseri) is a really good co-pilot. We have three races now to see who the best is. For me, the only thing is to drive and just to hear Xavier’s instructions. I’m happy about that. It’s his job now. We also need to watch for punctures. There’s a lot of stones.”
Their Italian Yamaha title rival Amerigo Ventura was classified in 14th. He added: “This is also my first time in Qatar and also for Erika (Mingozzi), my co-driver. Many people say the race is very tricky so we look forward to starting the special stage to understand everything.”
FIM Bajas World Cup leader Mohammed al-Balooshi led the bumper bike entry into Prologue action and the Emirati recorded the 12th quickest time behind Megre, Wallace, Makis Rees-Stavros, Alex McInnes, title rival Pedro Bianchi Prata, Mishal al-Ghuneim, James Hillier, Michael Anderson, Andrew Houlihan, Simon Marcic, and Rafic Eid.
Al-Balooshi said: “I learnt a lot from Nasser here in Qatar. I remember him saying that you need to gain as much experience as possible in as many events as you can. I have been doing that and it has improved my level. Saying that, this event is never easy. As I knew to my cost a few years ago, you can be going along well and then a simple mistake and you end up waking up in the hospital.”
Haitham al-Tuwaijri had been beaten by Abdulaziz al-Shayban in the quad category in Saudi Arabia last week. The Yamaha rider is playing the tactical game in Qatar and finished fourth of the quad runners in the unofficial standings behind Abdulaziz Ahli, Abdulaziz al-Atawi and Hani al-Noumesi.
Today’s action centres around two stages of 123.91km and 122.50km through the stony and challenging Qatar deserts where as much emphasis is placed on accurate navigation and road book reading skills as the outright speed of the driver.