Drivers Yazeed al-Rajhi and Marek Dabrowski with Overdrive team director Jean-Marc Fortin, AAB director of Sales and Marketing RK Murugan and other officials.


By Sports Reporter/Doha


With Toyota emerging as the single-largest entry brand in the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros (AAB), Toyota’s exclusive dealer in Qatar, extended support to the Belgium-based Overdrive Racing for the five-day Sealine Cross-Country Rally, which kickstarts today from the Losail International Circuit.
Overdrive Racing will have five teams participating in the event, which will see 1,739.55km of punishing off-road competition around the deserts of Qatar.
All the Overdrive teams will race Toyota Hilux, which have undergone extensive modification.  
“We are happy to support the Overdrive Racing team for all their logistical requirements in Qatar, and are sure that they will win this year’s Championship,” AAB director of Sales and Marketing RK Murugan said at a press conference held at the Toyota showroom ahead of the Sealine Cross-Country Rally, which kickstarts from Losail International Circuit today.
Saudi Arabian driver Yazeed al-Rajhi has re-joined Overdrive Racing will also drive a Hilux in the Sealine Rally, which is the fourth round of the 2014 FIA World Cup.
Al-Rajhi, who is second in the standings behind Vladimir Vasilyev of Russia, will team up with Polish drivers Marek Dabrowski and Adam Malysz, Brazilian Reinaldo Varela and Kazakh driver Kanat Shagirov for Overdrive Racing and Toyota.  
“This is the second difficult desert event in a space of three weeks, and one where we achieved the outright win with Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah in 2012,” said Overdrive team director Jean-Marc Fortin. “Last year, two of our leading cars reached the finish in third and fourth overall.  We have a good track record here.
“The Sealine event does not have the soft dunes, and the very high temperatures that we experienced at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, but the event in Qatar is equally challenging in terms of navigation and the varied terrain our drivers will cross. We are delighted to have Yazeed back in harness in one of our cars and I am sure that he will be looking for the outright win or a podium at least.”