Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the State of Qatar H E Ferdinand Lahnstein, QMMF President Abdulrahman Al-Mannai, QMMF Executive Director Amro Al-Hamad and QMMF Board Member Abdulrazaq Al-Kuwari with Qatari driver Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and French navigator Max Delfino during the ceremonial start yesterday
DOHA: Francisco Barreto, Konrad Dąbrowski and Abdulaziz Al-Ahli topped the times in their respective car, motorcycle and quad categories on the 11.12km Prologue that officially got the competitive action underway at the Qatar International Baja yesterday afternoon.
Thirty-seven cars, 45 motorcycles and eight quads graced the official start ceremony for the penultimate rounds of the FIA World and Middle East Baja Cups and round five of the FIM Bajas World Cup at Lusail. Competitors were flagged off the podium in the presence of QMMF President Abdulrahman Al-Mannai, QMMF Executive Director Amro Al-Hamad, QMMF board member Abdulrazaq AlKuwari and the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the State of Qatar H E Ferdinand Lahnstein. Italian Baja and recent Baja Portalegre 500 winner Francisco Barreto was the first driver to tackle the Prologue with his navigator Paulo Fiúza in an SVR Toyota Hilux.
Francisco Barreto was fastest in the Prologue stage.
The Portuguese carded the target time of 7min 06.9sec with a five-second penalty for touching a gate and that was 12.1 seconds quicker than the time set by title rival Saood Variawa, who lost time in the dust running behind Lionel Baud.
Remarkably, the Toyota driver was also 12.1 seconds up on local hero and multiple event winner Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah in his Optimus MD Rallye. The Qatari also incurred a fivesecond time penalty and suffered a costly flat tyre near the end.
Barreto said: “We are really happy. No mistakes. Maybe the guys behind had a little bit of dust because we started minute-byminute but it was a good result for us." Al-Attiyah added: “We had a puncture for the last five kilometres. We drove like one minute easy to manage and not lose too much time. At the end we lose only 12 seconds. Tomorrow is a long stage. It’s a big stage and we will push.” Mitchel van den Brink and Bart van Heun began the event in a strong position in the Challenger class and are still eyeing overall honours.
The Can-Am Maverick R crew finished the Prologue in sixth place behind the QMMFbacked local drivers, Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (Can-Am) and Nouef Al-Sowaidi (Taurus). Qatar’s Abdulla AlRabban was the fastest of the three drivers in the Stock category in his Toyota Prado.
Qatar’s Mohammed Al-Kubaisi in action during the Prologue.
Qatari Mohammed AlMarri was over a minute slower and will start towards the rear of the field on Friday. X-Raid’s Baud sustained a flat tyre near the start and will also suffer from a lowly starting position. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah’s nephew Ghanim Al-Attiyah is tackling the event for the first time in a Can-Am Maverick R alongside his Ukrainian navigator Dmytro Tsyro.
The young Qatari finished the Prologue in 21st overall and third in the SSVs, as a heavy rain shower fell in the area towards the end of competitive proceedings. Last year’s motorcycle winner Konrad Dąbrowski was the first rider into the stage on his Duust Rally Team KTM 450.
The Pole laid down the gauntlet with a run of 7min 15.1sec and that put him just 1.3 seconds quicker than FIM championship leader Alex McInnes. Former enduro champion and 2023 FIM Rally-Raid World Cup Rally 2 winner Romain Dumontier was running near the rear of the field and came home in third place, albeit over half a minute behind the flying Pole, and Robert Wallace earned the fourth quickest time on his KTM 450 EXC. Slovenian veteran Simon Marčič rounded off the top five on his Kove, with fellow countryman and defending Dakar Rally 2 champion Toni Mulec settling into seventh behind Michael Anderson and ahead of Ethan Lane, who incurred a five-second penalty.
Current FIM champion Mohammed Al-Balooshi and Qatar-based Makis Rees-Stavros completed the top 10. All 45 riders finished the Prologue. Abdulaziz Al-Ahli is the defending quad champion in Qatar and he made a solid start to the defence of his Baja title with the quickest time on his Yamaha Raptor. The Emirati finished the Prologue 7.3 seconds faster than fellow countryman Khalifa AlBastaki after his rival incurred a five-second penalty. But Al-Bastaki was further penalised for losing his time card.
Today, competitors tackle one of the longest and most demanding selective sections ever to grace a round of the FIA and FIM Baja Cups. A punishing 336.45km – on a par with a stage in the W2RC or the iconic Dakar Rally - will take entrants through the northern, western and central deserts of Qatar, with the first bike getting underway at 06.55hrs. The leading car will roar into action at 09.00hrs.
