Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) president Abdulrahman al-Mannai said the ceremonial start of the Manateq Qatar Cross-Country Rally this Thursday at the Medina Centrale, the Pearl-Qatar, will bring people closer to the event. 
In the past, QMMF has held the opening ceremony of the rally events at various popular tourist locations like Katara and Souq Waqif, which drew crowd in large numbers. And the QMMF hopes the event at Pearl-Qatar will also receive tremendous response from the locals. Al-Mannai said prior to the ceremonial start, QMMF has organised a motorcycle show, with 60 local bikers participating in the event, with prizes to be won. The motorcycle show will start at 4:30pm. “We are very excited to hold the motorcycle show before the ceremonial start. We have received a good response, with 60 bikes confirming their participation,” al-Mannai said yesterday. 
“For the past year and a half, QMMF has been trying to bring the rallies closer to the people. We are trying to organise these events alongside with ceremonial starts. This is to bring people closer to the rally and competitors. And we have chosen these places because it is a main attraction in Doha. We are expecting a big crowd to come and witness the ceremonial start,” he added.
The QMMF president thanked the main sponsor Manateq and venue partner UDC (United Development Co) for their support to the rally. “We are working very hard to organise this rally. I want to specially thank our main sponsor Manateq and also UDC for allowing us to use this amazing location right in the centre of Pearl, where people go there in the weekends to dine, walk around and shop. I think we will get good coverage having the opening ceremony of the rally there,” al-Mannai said. 
After the rally is flagged down at the Pearl-Qatar, the Manateq Qatar Cross-Country Rally will come into life with a 102km stage on Friday and that will define the starting order for the first of four further desert selective sections.
The subsequent two timed sections run for 313km and 338km and the fourth is planned for 350km, with a short road liaison of 56km built into the day’s timetable. The fifth and final stage takes place next Tuesday and runs for 270km before the ceremonial finish at The Pearl-Qatar. In a route of 2,059km, teams will tackle around 1,367km against the clock. 
“In terms of the competition this year we have some changes. The rally will cover close to 1,400km; it will pass through North, South and Western areas of Qatar. We have received 28 entries in total for T1, T2 and T3 categories out of which 12 are Qatari participants. This event is a championship in itself,” al-Mannai said
This year’s FIA off-road scene has been split into two different championships by officials at the sport’s governing body and five long distance five or six-day events in Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Morocco will count for the FIA World Cup, while eight shorter Baja-style events in Russia, Dubai, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Jordan and Portugal constitute a new FIA Baja series.
The QMMF president said the pleasant weather at this time of the year in Qatar has contributed to QMMF hosting the opening event. “One major change this year is the Manateq Qatar Cross-Country Rally is the opening round of the new championship. That is why the dates changed. We have co-ordinated with FIA for this event. Despite the even being held close proximity to Dakar, we are actually happy with response we have got and are hoping this championship will grow further in future,” he said
“In Qatar, we usually have the opening or closing round that is because of the location we are in. In Europe around this time it’s cold but in Qatar we have fantastic weather in February. We are planning to continue to hold this event as the opening round,” he said.
Al-Mannai said the QMMF will also host three rounds of the Manateq Qatar National Baja Championship, which will concurrently run with Cross-Country Rally. “The Qatar National Baja will also be held simultaneously with Qatar Cross-Country Rally. We will have three rounds on February 22nd, 24th and 26th with the remaining three rounds to be held later in the year. We are expecting around 8 or 9 entries for Baja. So in total, we will have 36 participants in action in both the championships,” al-Mannai said.
The Manateq Qatar Cross-Country Rally has attracted a quality international field of the world’s leading drivers for the first round of the prestigious FIA off-road series for the first time. Drivers and co-drivers from 19 countries feature on an impressive entry list. 
Dakar winner Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah starts as the favourite to win the event for a sixth time in his trusty Toyota Hilux. Poland’s Jakub Przygonski won the FIA World Cup last season and the MINI John Cooper Works Rally driver tops the field and returns to try and repeat the outright Qatar win he secured last year. The Pole teams up with new German co-driver Timo Gottschalk this season. His former navigator Tom Colsoul has switched to the Toyota team and will sit alongside Dutchman Bernhard Ten Brinke.
The competition at the head of the field in likely to be frenetic with Russian driver Vladimir Vasilyev and his navigator Konstantin Zhiltsov hoping to overcome the event’s notoriously difficult navigation and fend off the challenge from the likes of the Saudi Arabian duo of Yasir Seaidan and Yazeed al-Rajhi, Czech driver Miroslav Zapletal and the returning Qatari Mohamed Abu Issa in an SMG Buggy. The likes of Abdullah al-Rabban, Khaled al-Feraihi and Eugenio Amos bolster the T1 section.