In this part of the interview we talk to Dado about his rally plans, the Lebanese circuit, and some international motorsports.
In the past couple of years Abdo has been very unlucky in the Rally of Lebanon, ending his run with an accident or a failure. “This is motorsports” he says, adding that such things happen. “I committed a little error last year in the ROL and ended with a big shunt.” “From the beginning I decided to enter the past 2 competitions on the EVO X. It was a new car and I decided to develop it. We faced a lot of problems, and this made us lose in many places.”
Dado came back to rallying in 2009 after a couple of years away. In 2010 he had a very good preparation for the rally, and he was entering with full power. Although he faced some difficulties in testing, Dado decided to start the rally and was very close to his brother Roger on a Skofa Fabia s2000 car over the course of the rally.
“It was my mistake, and we were out.” Dado says honestly about his 2010 accident in rally of Lebanon.
This year Dado is trying to participate in ROL. He totally dismissed the possibility of participation in the Lebanese rally championship, but he will be doing both the speed test championship, and the hill climb championship. Dado will most probably be driving an EVO X R4 but he didn’t completely dismiss the idea of driving a super 2000 car if the budget was available.
So S2000 or R4?
To continue the long debate regarding the comparison between the EVO X R4 and the s2000 cars, we asked Dado about his opinion and what car does have the edge. “In Lebanon everything is different. All over the world the Michelin tyres used to be faster than the Pirelli tyres, while in Lebanon the Pirelli tyres have always come on top. Around the world the S2000 cars are around 2 seconds per kilometer faster than the group N cars, in Lebanon we proved that we can be close. The rally of Lebanon has some unique characteristics such as the type of asphalt, the hairpins, the high mountain slopes and many other things.” Abdo is confident that this year with R4 cars he can challenge the s2000 cars, especially that experiences from last year shows he was close to Roger, who was pushing hard on his Skoda Fabia S2000.
When asked about sponsoring for 2010 Abdo answers proudly saying; “No driver in Lebanon has been with the same sponsor for
more than 10 years. I have been with Red Bull since 2000 and we have won around 14 titles together, both locally and internationally. We will be concentrating on speed tests and hill climbs this year as we mentioned and doing a full season of rallying will come with time.”
Abdo also dismisses completely the idea of doing international rallies. He is concentrating on the Red Bull Car Park Drift, and his schedule is very busy making it impossible for him to think about something else.
We asked Abdo if these plans are a long term strategy or just the way things are now; “nothing is long term. We have many changes in the region and we never know what the change will give us. We are working every year by itself and we are only planning short term.” Dado answers.
The Lebanese MotorSport Dream
“Our ultimate dream as Lebanese motorsport enthusiasts is a circuit for racing. We already have the experience in running a track alongside a couple of professionals including Jean Pierre Nasrallah. With the right sponsor we can build the track and achieve this dream.”
Dado explains passionately about this dream and, enthusiastically states that if this dream is realized, he is ready to leave everything and take a house near the track which will be located in the Bikaa Valley, and just live his everyday life there.
In 2011 Dado was the man behind the racing in the “Reem international circuit” in KSA. He believes that his experience in KSA was very valuable and although the track was in the middle of the desert 120 KM away from the capital, it contained everything, the passion the facilities and everything needed for racing. Abdo believes that a circuit is what we need in Lebanon to fulfill our passion in motorsport especially that the neighboring countries like Syria and Jordan have no circuits too. Abdo believes that having a circuit in the Arab countries has improved their motorsports dramatically especially after introducing competitions like the GT championship and the Porsche events.
F1
“The last 3 years in F1 were amazing because of the change of rules. We all know that in F1 after a couple of year all teams copy each other and the established big teams always gain the edge.” Abdo says.
Abdo also states that due to rule changes the innovation in F1 has been amazing. Last year Adrian Newey did some amazing innovations and led by a huge margin over their rivals. “Red Bull Still has the edge this year but they will face competition especially from Ferrari.” Abdo adds.
“I hope Michael Schumacher wins a race again this year. Everybody underestimated him last year but everyone should respect him
for the 7 titles he won.” Abdo says stating that nobody has the right to criticize Schumacher for his return and that Schumacher knows that he has the passion and ability to do it and this is why he returned.
WRC
Abdo speaks with excitement about Petter Solberg and he explains how Petter always mentions Lebanon when he is with Lebanese drivers and his friends. Abdo tells us the story of Petter with the Rally of Lebanon, when Petter finished the Rally of Lebanon 1998 in second place, Ford manager Malcolm Wilson was in Lebanon and was impressed by Petter’s display which Led to sign him for WRC. Petter eventually won the championship in 2003. Petter and his friends celebrate the date of the Rally of Lebanon every year as an anniversary for his WRC entrance.
Moving into the new season Abdo says: “Ford has prepared an exceptional car this year but we cannot judge on the results of the rally of Mexico since road position has been very fundamental in the course of the rally. In the next rally everything will be clearer and we will know who has the edge. WRC is evolving again and there is talk that SAAB, VW and others may follow Mini in entering the championship so it’s looking good for WRC in the coming years.”
