(L-R) Lada Sport’s Rob Huff, Moroccan driver Mehdi Bennani, Qatar’s racing hero Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah, QMMF President Nasser Khalifa al-Attiyah, Head of Eurosport Events Francois Ribeiro, Zengo Motorsport’s Norbert Michelisz, 2015 world champion and Citroen Total’s driver Jose Mario Lopez and DHL Express Qatar country manager Nael Attiyat.


By Joe Koraith/Doha


The FIA World Touring Car Championship comes to the Middle East for the first time, with the Losail International Circuit hosting the season finale over two days beginning today. It will also mark the first time the event is held under lights, since its inaugural season in 1987.
Motorsport fans in Qatar will get to see a new form of racing and that is a constant endeavour of the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF), stressed its president Nasser Khalifa al-Attiyah yesterday during the pre-event press conference. “It is our aim to do more racing activities in Qatar and conducting an event at the level of the WTCC is an amazing opportunity,” said al-Attiyah.
The QMMF president also said that the event will help generate interest in motorsport and get more people to take part in it. “This will encourage more drivers and also manufacturers to focus on road racing in Qatar. This makes it very important for Qatar – to involve not only the drivers but also the manufacturers. It gives them a chance to visit Qatar and see how much we are doing for motorsport in this region. It is an honour to host one of the biggest racing events in the world. We are ready to host this event and build a culture (of touring car racing),” he added.
Al-Attiyah feels the race will be a big thrill for the drivers. “The night race will be very exciting for the drivers and the teams. The performance of the engine will be better and the drivers will be able to focus more because of everything else being dark and the track being lit. They will get a good time here. That’s the feedback we get from the MotoGP and the World Superbike riders. The conditions are good for the drivers and also for the spectators because they can finish work and come watch the races.”
Francois Ribeiro, Head of Eurosport Events, the parent body that organises the WTCC, said that Qatar was a default choice because of its track record. “For such a small country what QMMF is doing for motorsport is incredible – both for two and four wheels. I trust QMMF and Nasser (Khalifa al-Attiyah) and when he gave me the word that he will do a world class event for WTCC, I had no hesitation in choosing Qatar,” said Ribeiro yesterday.
The timing of the race along with the added novelty of it being held at night made Qatar the perfect choice for the season-ender, said Ribeiro.  “Qatar has been a pioneer when it comes to night races. Their first MotoGP night race was in 2004. That was four years before F1 conducted their first night race and 10 years before Abu Dhabi. So it was natural for us to go with Qatar for the first night race for WTCC,” he said.
“We had been finishing the WTCC season in Macau for the past ten years.  It’s an amazing city with a great tradition for motorsport. But we were racing at lunchtime. When you are having a season final you want the maximum number of people in front of the television watching it. But Macau timing meant that European viewers had to get up around five in the morning. Holding the race here meant that the race will be around 7pm in Europe – a great time for television. WTCC will get a lot of eyeballs because of this and we will be put Qatar on the map. I estimate around 60 million viewers will watch the finale,” he added.
The recent weather conditions will make the races even more interesting, said the WTCC chief. “Maybe we have been lucky with the rain. It is unusual in Qatar. It reminds me exactly of the conditions that we had in Motegi. There was heavy rain a few days before the race. There was no grip and it was one of the best races we have seen so far and I think that’s what we will see in Qatar. The racing won’t be easy but it will be spectacular. The spectators here will see a lot of similarity to MotoGP. It will be sprint races, no pit stops, no strategy and lots of overtaking. The race won’t be won in the pits or because of a tyre change. It will purely depend on the aggressiveness of the drivers,” he added.
The championship has already been decided with Citroen Total’s Jose Mario Lopez winning the title. The battle will be for the second place between Sebastian Loeb and Yvan Muller.



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