Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari hopes to put himself in contention to win the Qatar International Rally for a second time when the opening round of the 2021 FIA Middle East Rally Championship starts at Katara on Friday evening.
The 41-year-old Doha-based driver has taken something of a back seat from international competition in recent years, but backing from the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) leaves the 2012 Qatar International Rally winner hopeful of challenging for victory over the 11 gravel stages of the series opener.
Al-Kuwari drives a Toksport WRT-prepared Škoda Fabia R5 Evo with new Irish co-driver James Fulton. The 29-year-old makes his MERC debut but has contested many FIA European Rally Championship and Irish events with drivers including Callum Devine. He has also competed in WRC Rally Mexico and won the Michigan-based Sno*Drift Rally outright last year with Barry McKenna.
I am very happy to be back in the rally car and participating in the Qatar Rally, which is a special event for me. I won it in 2012 in the Mini Cooper and that was my first win in the Middle East Championship. It will not be easy this time. I am not the same driver I was at that time, because I stopped racing from 2012 for three or four years in general. I did some rallies, but I stopped a full programme.
Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari
So I lost a lot of my pace but, hopefully, it will not take me a long time to be back and to be fast again. I was second overall (behind Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah) in 2019. I am sure the stages will be nice. The type of stages around Al-Khor are good and not as rough as some of the stages we have used before.
Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari
I also welcome my new co-driver James Fulton from Ireland. I am sure he will enjoy the events a lot in the Middle East. I also thank Marshall Clarke for the past years that he co-drove me. I was very happy with him. This time he could not do the rally because of the travel restrictions and Covid-19. I hope we work together again soon.
Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari
The entry list is very strong, especially with Kris Meeke in the rally. It is good for the competition and good for the Middle East. For me, he is one of the best three drivers around the world. Sometimes he has been unlucky, that’s all. He is a top driver, very fast and sometimes even the fastest. With Nasser and Khalid Al-Suwaidi, I think we will enjoy the competition a lot. Thanks to QMMF for giving me the opportunity to drive again and I wish everyone a safe rally.
Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari
Career highlights
Al-Kuwari’s 2012 Qatar win was the only MERC success for the Prodrive-built Mini John Cooper Works S2000. He then made his FIA World Rally Championship debut at the 2012 Acropolis Rally in Greece, scoring a point for 10th and becoming only the second driver after Sébastien Ogier (Mexico 2008) to score on his WRC debut. He was also 10th in Australia and Spain in 2013 and achieved a career-best seventh in Argentina in 2015.
He contested WRC 2 for four seasons (2013-2016), finishing second in the 2013 championship after category wins in Mexico, Argentina and Australia. He won again in Argentina in 2015 and added third places in Australia (2015) and Argentina (2016).
His 2019 return in a Škoda Fabia R5 brought second overall in both the Qatar and Jordan rallies, eighth in Cyprus and fifth places at the Rallye Terre de Langres in France and the Rallye de Tierra Ciudad de Astorga in Spain.
Strong opposition
Al-Attiyah, Meeke and Al-Suwaidi are not his only rivals. Local pair Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya and Sheikh Suhaim Al-Thani drive R5 versions of the Ford Fiesta and Škoda Fabia, and young Omani Abdullah Al-Rawahi, last year’s championship runner-up to Al-Attiyah, has a Ford Fiesta R5.
The rally is held under the chairmanship of QMMF President Abdulrahman Al-Mannai, senior committee member Abdulrazaq Al-Kuwari and QMMF Executive Director Amro Al-Hamad.