January 13, 2015 – Abu Dhabi Racing’s legal consultant Saleh Alobeidli has filed an appeal case in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to contest the FIA International Court of Appeal’s decision to strip Sheikh Khalid Bin Faisal Al Qassimi of his Dubai Rally and Middle East Rally Championship titles in favour of the Qatari driver Nasser Al Attiyah. CAS which is based in Lausanne (Switzerland) is the most reputable and well established arbitration tribunal related to sports in the world.
The dispute began on November 29th2014 when Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi won the Dubai International Rally beating the Qatari driver Al Attiyah by the smallest margin in MERC history (0.3secs) and as a result was crowned the Middle East Rally Championship. The Qatari driver subsequently complained to rally’s steward committee claiming that Sheikh Khalid’s performance to be reviewed. The committee reviewed Sheikh Khalid’s performance and found it to be fair and comply with the rules of the Middle East Rally and therefore declared him the rally winner.
However, The Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) complained on the Qatari driver’s behalf to the FIA International Court of Appeal (ICA), which has taken place in Doha instead of its usual place in Paris. The ICA has reversed the stewards committee’s original decision and declared Al Attiyah winner of Dubai International Rally and Middle East Rally Championship.
Lawyer Saleh Alobeidli, ADR’s legal consultant, commented: “We were surprised by the decision of ICA that contradicted the stewards’ decision which was about a pure technical dispute. It is rarely for the stewards’ decision to be over ruled. Furthermore, as per FIA rules the ICA does not have jurisdiction over judgments rendered by the stewards without the consent of all the parties involved, which was not the case here. Therefore, it’s naturally for us to take this matter to the higher level of justice and therefore appeal the decision at CAS, the world’s top sports court. It is worth noting that most of international sports federations recognize CAS including the International Olympic Committee, International Automobile Federation FIA, International Football Association of Football FIFA, and many others”.