Doha: Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his French navigator Max Delfino confirmed their respective FIA Middle East Baja Cup titles with outright victory in the 2026 Qatar International Baja across the southern deserts yesterday.
Al-Attiyah headed into the final day aiming to defend a lead of 6min 15.3sec over the FIA World Baja Cup title-chasing Francisco Barreto and his navigator Paulo Fiúza. The Optimus MD Rallye driver made a strong start and increased his virtual lead through the first checkpoints.
There was no bad luck or skeletons lurking in the cupboard for Halloween and Al-Attiyah duly secured a record 13th victory on his home off-road event since 2004 and a first since 2023 with a winning margin of 29min 08.7sec.
He also confirmed the regional Baja title for the first time. Barreto lost over 18 minutes on the final section with navigational delays but stayed in second place.
Al-Attiyah said: “A lucky number for today, 13. This year it was completely different. We had the longest stages on a Baja. It looked like a Dakar cross-country stage yesterday and we had 200km today over completely different terrain. We had to manage the rear tyres today, so as not to destroy them, like yesterday. We did a good job and we won the race. Two Middle East championships this year. It’s the first time I compete in this Baja Cup. Before, I competed in the World Cup.
“Now, Dubai next week and we just received information that he have Jeddah the week after because I am also leading the Saudi Championship. Then, we have Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge at the end of this month.”
Konrad Dąbrowski wrote a little piece of motorcycling history by becoming the first rider to win the event on four occasions (2022, 2023, 2025 and 2026).
He surpassed the three cross-country victories achieved by Spain’s Marc Coma in 2012, 2013 and 2015. The Pole led from the Prologue and earned a winning margin of 5min 12sec. Emirati Khalifa Al-Bastaki was victorious in the quad category on his Yamaha.
Dąbrowski said: “I knew what I had to do. The plan was simple, not to get lost. I wanted to lead the way until the dunes. That way I knew the navigation game was done right. Alex (McInnes) and Romain (Dumontier) caught me and I just rode with them. That way I was safe. It was a good day, four in a row, and still undefeated in Qatar. Dunes were nice. They are demanding and the camel grass is physically tough and it was hot. We could feel that but I enjoyed myself.”
Barreto’s consolation for finishing a distant second in the car category was the outright lead in the FIA World Baja Cup to take to the final round in the UAE next weekend. The SVR Toyota Hilux IMT Evo driver delivered a polished performance to finish 9min 28.8sec in front of the third-placed Challenger category-winning Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and Oriol Mena in their QMMF-backed Can-Am Challenger.
Barreto said: “First in the FIA World Baja Cup was most important for us. Today’s stage, for me, was the most difficult of the weekend because the navigation was too hard. The last 70km in the dunes was very difficult. Paulo did a good job, but we got lost a few times and lost a few minutes. But we stayed in second position.”
A strong run on the last day catapulted Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah and Stéphane Duplé into fourth overall in the second of the QMMF Challenger cars. The French father and daughter pairing of Lionel and Lucie Baud stayed clear of major issues and set the fourth quickest time on the second stage in their petrol-engined X-Raid Mini JCW Rally to earn fifth.
Aliyyah Koloc’s good run on Friday had been overshadowed by time penalties and the UAE-based Red-Lined Revo GTR driver to succumbed to technical issues on the second stage. Her father Martin and his navigator Hugo Magalhães finished sixth.
Ahmed El-Shamy remains on course to finish as runner-up to Al-Attiyah in the Middle East Baja Cup’s Ultimate class and he came home in seventh with Leonard Cremer in a Century CR6.
Argentina-based Fernando Alvarez and Xavier Panseri maintained their push for SSV title success with eighth and a fistful of points for winning their category in a Can-Am Maverick R. The QMMF’s Nouef Al-Sowaidi finished ninth. Khalid Al-Jafla recovered strongly from overnight time penalties and picked up valuable FIA World Baja Cup championship points in 10th with his Toyota after a late penalty.
Ghanim Al-Attiyah’s international debut ended positively in 11th and South Africa’s Saood Variawa recovered from two batches of time penalties to finish 12th.
Challenger runner Hamed Al-Wahaibi’s chance of catching Mitchel van den Brink derailed when a front axle support bracket failed on the final stage after an accident over a crest.
There was a late retirement for Qatari Abdullah Al-Khelaifi (Yamaha) with mechanical issues and Ahmed Al-Kuwari was forced to withdraw after damaged sustained when he was hit from behind by Al-Jafla after 18.88km. Mohammed Al-Marri lost chunks of time in his Can-Am with mechanical issues but continued to finish 26th.
Newly-crowned Stock world champion Majed Al-Thunayyan celebrated his success but Qatar’s Abdulla Al-Rabban won the section for series-production cross-country machines in a Nissan Patrol for the third successive year.
Additional time penalties were added to several motorcycle riders before the restart. Jordan’s Abdullah Abu Aisheh incurred an additional eight minutes for being late at TC1A and Marcin Talaga lost his time card and was handed five minutes. Andrew Houlihan and Simon Marčič were among the non-starters.
Duust Rally Team rider Dąbrowski opened the day’s proceedings hoping to defend a 5min 18sec advantage over McInnes.
The stage began to the southwest of Doha, but a mistake navigational mistake by McInnes swung the pendulum in the Pole’s favour early on. The Briton dropped 4min 47sec to the leader and rode alongside Romain Dumontier to the refuelling point with Ethan Lane running strongly.
Rafic Eid’s Baja ended when he sustained a hand injury after a fall. Talaga and Thomas Cross both stopped.
Dumontier held on through the final passage in the Sealine dunes to win the stage by 1min 58sec from side kick McInnes. But the third quickest time for Dąbrowski enabled the Pole to win the Baja for the fourth time. McInnes boosted his FIM Bajas World title hopes with second and Dumontier rounded off the podium places in third.
Runner-up McInnes said: “I actually really enjoyed it. I rode with Romain all day. There was a tricky note in the road book and I slowed down and he caught me. The dunes were good, switching back and forth together and taking it in turns opening. Hopefully I can wrap it up in Dubai and not have to go to Portugal. That’s my home race and that would be good,”
Frenchman Dumontier earned a podium on his debut. He said: “I am happy. First time in Qatar and it means I had to learn how it works here. I took it quite easy on the first day. I am not so used to this WPP (waypoint). I missed one today. Even with that I managed the win. I caught Alex at the beginning. He was lost and then we made all the stage together. We caught Konrad in the dunes and we finish all together. It was a good feeling. I am glad to make this race and hope to come back.”
Young British rider Ethan Lane managed to get the better of Slovenia’s Toni Mulec to earn fourth overall after the treacherous Sealine dunes took their toll on several of the chasing pack. Debutant Mulec completed the stage 15 minutes behind the Briton.
Michael Anderson and Robert Wallace were classified in sixth and seventh overall and Norwegian Hans Dovland (Gas Gas) managed to get ahead of defending FIM champion Mohammed Al-Balooshi on the last day to grab eighth. Philip Horlemann climbed to ninth after Al-Balooshi was hit with time penalties.
KTMs filled the top seven positions and nine of the top 10 places. Female rider Joanna Modrzeswka rounded off the top 20 and Mexican racer Christophe Suberville finished 21st after team-mate and fellow countryman Ladislao Hernandez retired with heat exhaustion on the final stage.
Emirati Khalifa Al-Bastaki managed to hold on to his overnight lead to snatch victory in the quad section over fellow countryman Abdulaziz Ahli. Ahmed Al-Jaber had arrived in Qatar as the FIM quad championship leader but failed to start the final stage. Hani Al-Noumesi stopped to attend to an injured rider and was later handed time back to round off the quad podium ahead of Abdulaziz Al-Atawi
All three FIA and FIM championships continue in the UAE next weekend at the Dubai International Baja.
