Qatari rally driver Khalid Al-Suwaidi, the winner of last year’s Kuwait International Rally, has been receiving ongoing support from the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) and will tackle all rounds of this year’s FIA Middle East Rally Championship, starting with next weekend’s Qatar International Rally.
In 2013, he teams up with the experienced Italian navigator Nicola Arena, who finished first overall in the regional series with Misfer Al-Marri in 2010 and ended last season in third position in the co-drivers’ standings.
Al-Suwaidi and Arena will crew a Ford Fiesta RRC on the two-day Qatar International Rally, which features a new route to the north of Doha and a new service area at Qatar Aqua Park.
“Khalid and Nicola will use the original Fiesta WRC-winning car from Sweden 2011, the first ever Fiesta to win a WRC event,” said team manager Ken Skidmore. “It is a famous vehicle and it’s not for sale! When Khalid finishes his programme the car is going into a museum. It’s a priceless piece of motor sport history.”
It was in this car that Al-Suwaidi claimed his one and only MERC victory in Kuwait last season and he will be looking to continue the good form he showed in Dubai last December against a formidable line-up of rivals in Qatar.
Skidmore also confirmed that his UK-based Autotek Motorsport operation would run the M-Sport Qatar Team car for defending regional champions, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Giovanni Bernacchini.