Sheikh Khalid Bin Faisal Al Qassimi is gearing up for the Qatar International Rally starting from Feb.5, the opening round of the 2015 Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), where he will be at the wheel of the Abu Dhabi Racing Citroen DS 3 RRC – featuring an all new livery – alongside veteran co-driver Chris Patterson.
Qassimi and Patterson are targeting top honours in the Qatar International Rally, run over 13 challenging stages over 263.27 km. Last year the pair finished third in the same event, but the goal this year is to be competitive even more as they debut a special new livery under the Abu Dhabi banner.
Defending FIA Middle East rally champion and recent Dakar Rally winner Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah will be partnered by Frenchman Matthieu Baumel, with whom he won the recent Dakar Rally.
Baumel replaces the diminutive Italian Giovanni Bernacchini, who has worked alongside Attiyah for several years in special stage rallies.
Ford Fiestas dominate the upper reaches of the entry list. With the exception of a solitary Citroen DS3 RRC for the UAE’s Qassimi, Attiyah, and the Qatari quartet of Abdulaziz and Abdullah Al Kuwari and Khalifa Al Attiyah and Khalid Al Sowaidi have all been entered in British-built Ford Fiestas.
The remainder of the field drive a selection of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions, with the Kuwaiti duo of Saleh bin Eidan and Meshari Al-Thafiri heading the group.
A two-car Tehran Rally Team has entered the Qatar event for the first time on the back of the new Iran Rally joining the regional rally championship for the first time in May this year. Laleh Seddigh and Elaheh Karim crew one of the cars and Ali Mesgarha and Yahidreza Vahdatinkzad occupy the second entry. The Sultanate of Oman has also returned to the MERC calendar in 2015 after a seven-year absence and two Omani drivers grace the entry list in Qatar for the first time in several years. The experienced Khalid Soomar Al-Zadjali teams up with Taha Soomar Al Zadjali in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII and Khalid Saleh Al Minji and Saif Al Aisri crew a second car.
Germany female driver Edith Weiss will be taking part in her eighth Qatar International Rally, this time at the wheel of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX alongside her Greek navigator Vicky Psaraki. Weiss finished 12th overall, second in Group N and first of the Ladies’ crews last year.
“Qatar has one of the most demanding gravel surface rallies in the world and I always look forward to coming here to compete,” said Weiss, who first competed in Qatar in 1992. “The event is professionally organised by the QMMF and it’s always a pleasure to be here.”
However, it was decided not to enter the highly rated Abu Dhabi Racing junior drivers in the Qatar International Rally.
Qassimi said: “We at Abu Dhabi Racing will choose the best rallies for our junior drivers to participate in and those that will be beneficial for them.”
Qassimi, who chairs the Abu Dhabi Racing Company, also announced his participation in the World Rally Championship (WRC) with the Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team.
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