Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Poland’s Konrad Dabrowski set the fastest times in the car and motorcycle categories on Thursday’s Prologue stage of the Qatar International Baja, round two of the FIA World and Middle East Cups for Cross-Country Bajas and the FIM Bajas World Cup.
The short opening timed section decides the running order for the longer second part of the stage through the Qatari deserts on Friday morning, and was held ahead of Thursday evening’s ceremonial start on Lusail Boulevard.
Forty-four cars (seven T1+, three T1, three T2, 18 T3 and 13 T4), 47 motorcycles and five quads cleared scrutineering and were cleared to start the Prologue. Santiago Navarro and Henry Kahy did not start in the T3 category for lightweight prototypes, and nine further cars ran in a National event behind the main Baja.
Al-Attiyah and his regular co-driver Mathieu Baumel stopped the clock in 5min 49.5sec, ahead of the Polish pairing of Krzysztof Holowczyc and Lukasz Kurzeja on 5min 54.3sec in their Mini JCW Rally Plus. Denis Krotov and Konstantin Zhiltsov are third in an Overdrive Racing Toyota.
Kuwait’s Meshari Al-Thefiri pipped the South Racing Can-Am Team’s Otavio Sousa for the early T3 lead in his new MCE-5 T3M. Brazil’s Cristiano de Sousa Batista extended his fine run of form to top T4 from young Pau Navarro in his FN Speed Team Can-Am.
Dabrowski quickest on two wheels
Defending champion Konrad Dabrowski posted 6min 20.9sec to take the early motorcycle lead on a stage where times are multiplied by a coefficient of eight to discourage tactical games over the running order. The Pole has recovered well from a recent appendicitis operation and is aiming for a repeat win this year. The KTM rider also leads the Junior category.
Great Britain’s Robert Wallace and Italy’s Paulo Lucci were second and third, with Italian Cesare Zacchetti (KTM) heading the Veterans in 12th and Mirjam Pol leading the Women’s section in 13th.
Emirati Abdulaziz Al-Ahli drew first blood in the quads, leading Saudi Arabia’s Haitham Al-Tuwaijri and Mansoor Al-Suwaidi.
Saudi Arabia’s Mishal Al-Ghuneim, one of the more experienced riders in the field, was 14th on the Prologue.
I feel good after my ankle injury and have got a couple of riders with me, Andrew (Houlihan) from Australia and Luca from Italy. Luca is a rookie but Andrew is fighting for the Veterans’ Championship. Hopefully we all have a good race.
Mishal Al-Ghuneim
Friday
The second part of leg one covers 233.87km of the Qatari deserts, split into sections of 46.05km, 70.53km and 117.29km by non-competitive transfer zones. The first motorcycle is due on stage at 07.35hrs. The cars tackle the longest 117.29km section first, followed by the two shorter stages, with the first car on stage from 08.45hrs.