Nineteen-time Middle East Rally Champion Nasser Al-Attiyah is targeting a return to the sport’s top-flight for November’s World Rally Championship-qualifying Rally Saudi Arabia.
The Qatari, who drove a factory Ford Fiesta RS WRC in the world championship in 2013, dominated Saudi’s WRC candidate event, which finished on Saturday afternoon. Al-Attiyah led Toyota driver Juho Hänninen home with a 1m37.4s advantage after two trouble-free days on the roads around Jeddah.
Observed by both the FIA and WRC Promoter, the event ran without significant incident, despite the first stage being cancelled on safety grounds. As predicted, the crews were surprised by how rough the roads were – the organisers are confident of smoother conditions for the nation’s debut in the World Rally Championship at the end of the season.
And when it comes to the November 27-30 event, Al-Attiyah is keen to step up from the Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 he used to clinch the win on Saturday.
Rally Saudi Arabia ran smoothly and delivered all the right messaging for the World Rally Championship
Al-Attiyah, who overcame time loss with a puncture on the second day, said: “It was nice to win the rally. But the good thing was that we had the rally back here in Saudi Arabia. I cannot wait for the next one in November. I want to do it in a Rally1 car!”
Toyota test driver Hänninen was very much on a learning exercise, present to observe the conditions and feed back to team. Winning two stages along the way was a bonus for the Finn – as was driving against an old sparring partner.
“It was OK,” said Hänninen, who was running the team’s test GR Yaris Rally2. “We saw all the stages and we learned a lot. From that side it was a good journey.
“Everything went smoothly, some of the stages were slippery and I was not expecting it to be so rough – more than Safari, actually. And coming from Finland, where it’s zero degrees, this heat is different!
Nasser is the king of the Middle East.Juho Hänninen
“Nasser is the king of the Middle East. I knew that before coming here. The result was not that important. We learned so many things. It’s nice to be second after Nasser. It was nice to see him again because we competed together many years ago.”
Rakan Al-Rashed overcame a brace of second-day punctures to land a distant third place in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.
Observer reports will now be filed, but sources in Saudi are confident the event will be confirmed as the WRC’s final round this season.
One source told DirtFish: “There’s still some work to do [before the WRC round], but this event has been really valuable. It’s a learning process and this is very much part of that. The organisers can sit in meetings, listen to what everybody’s saying and study the procedures all they want – it’s when the rally starts and you have to be dealing with situations that you really learn. Moving forward, I have no doubt everything will be in place for November – it’s WRC ready.
“The ceremonial start was exceptional and will, no doubt, be one of the spectacles of the season. The roads were a real challenge and, for sure, if the championship comes down to the final round, it’s going to be an incredible place for the decider.”
