South African rider Michael Anderson took the victory in the season-opening Qatar Off Road Championship (QORC) at the Sealine region yesterday.
Anderson, who finished in the second spot behind Emirati rider Mohamed al-Balooshi in the final standings last season, was the fastest yesterday. He completed 16 laps at the 5.7km off-road track in 01 hour, 22 minutes and 31.657 secs. The South African’s fastest lap was clocked at 4 minutes 58.724 secs.
Meanwhile, al-Balooshi, the first Emirati rider to take part in the legendary Dakar Rally, was 1 minute 03.990 secs slower than Anderson yesterday. His compatriot Abdulla Lanjawi was third with a time of 01:26.48.393.
The popular off road series, usually held over six rounds, will see two additional round this year.Regarding the amendment to the Championship, Qatar Motor & Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) Executive Director Amro al-Hamad yesterday said the decision came after requests from drivers and riders.
“We’ve done some modifications after listening to the competitors. We increased the number of rounds. It used to be six rounds, which is three rounds of survival and three rounds of Baja. Now it has become five rounds of Baja and three rounds of survival, taking it from six to eight rounds. The two extra rounds of Baja are going to be in the international Baja’s that we’re going to run here in Qatar very soon as part of the World Championship. It’s going to be significantly longer distances than the normal distance of the Bajas that we do nationally. And this is going to encourage the competitors to go and compete on the international Bajas with longer distances overseas,” al-Hamad said.
The next round of the QORC will take place on January 26-27.
South Africa’s Michael Anderson in action during the opening round of the Qatar Off Road Championship at the Sealine region on Friday.
