(From left to right) UAE rider Mohamed al-Balooshi, Polish quad rider Rafal Sonik, Red Bull KTM Factory rider Sam Sunderland of Britain, QMMF president Nasser Khalifa al-Attiyah, Team HRC’s Portuguese rider Paulo Goncalves, Red Bull KTM Factory rider Marc Coma of Spain, Qatari quad rider Mohamed Abu Issa and Team HRC’s Spanish rider Joan Barreda at the pre-event press conference yesterday.
By Sports Reporter/Losail
FIA World Cup leader Vladimir Vasilyev and defending Dakar Rally champion Marc Coma will lead their respective car and motorcycle rivals from 18 countries into the start of the 2014 Sealine Cross-Country Rally at the Losail international circuit, north of Doha, today morning.
Ahead of a top-class field entered in their respective rounds of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies and the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship are five days and 1,739.55km of punishing off-road competition through the deserts of Qatar.
Intense heat, wind and dust, coupled with tricky navigation and varied landscapes make this one of the most challenging events of its kind on the planet and a crucial test event for competitors keen to prepare for the next Dakar Rally.
Both car and motorcycle categories will not only feature the fight for individual glory, but also the battle between manufacturers for pride of place at the top of their respective championship classifications. Mini takes on Toyota in the car category - through the X-raid and Overdrive Racing teams – and Team HRC Rally (Honda) lines up against the Red Bull KTM Factory Team in the two-wheel category.
“I would like to welcome all our competitors to Qatar for the start of what we hope will be another safe and successful Sealine Cross-Country Rally,” said QMMF president Nasser Khalifa al-Attiyah, who held a minute’s silence during the motorcycle press conference for the Dubai-based British rider Cameron Waugh, who lost his life in an accident at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge two weeks ago.
“Our entries have strength in depth and we look forward to five days of exciting competition on the challenging route that our team at the QMMF has devised.”
Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed al-Rajhi, who is second in the standings behind Vasilyev, said, “The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge was disappointing with the engine problem and it cost me a lot of points towards the championship. Now I am back with the Toyota team. I won with them in Russia and Italy. The objective is a podium and to get back into contention for the championship. It’s a busy time for me with the Jordan Rally next week and then Argentina the week after.”
The QMMF president also received a special award from Marat Abykayev, the Kazakh FIA and FIM president, who is head of a visiting delegation from the central Asian country. Al-Attiyah then presented gifts to both Abykayev and Abdul Salem Abu Issa of the Salam International Group for their support.
The 2001 Dakar Rally winner Jutta Kleinschmidt and her former Italian navigator Fabrizia Pons have been chosen to run as the route verification team. The German became the first and only woman in history to win the Dakar with the Mitsubishi Ralliart team and she will pass through each stage in advance of the entrants to check the accuracy of the road book and to ensure that weather conditions haven’t caused any major changes to the terrain.
Today, motorcycles leave the start podium at Losail at 10am and begin the opening 164.18km selective section from 11.30am onwards.
Cars follow over the podium from 11.15am onwards and commence the stage, which finishes 2.21km from the Sealine bivouac, at 12.45pm. The event finishes at Sealine on Friday afternoon.