October 26, 2015 – Middle East Rally Champion, WRC 2 champion, runner-up in the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup and third in the Dakar Rally is how Nasser Al-Attiyah concluded his 2014 season.
Surely, emulating such a magnificent performance in 2015 was not going to be an easy task for Al-Attiyah. However, Nasser didn’t only emulate his magnificent performance, he bettered it and went on to secure four prestigious titles – an unprecedented achievement.
The Olympic medalist kicked off his 2015 campaign in style, sealing his second Dakar Rally crown – his first came in 2011 – after one of the most dominant displays in the event’s history. Al-Attiyah set the quickest time in five of the rally’s 13 torturing special stages – the most of any competitor, and he led the way from the second stage until the very end, completely unrivaled. He crossed the finish 35 minutes faster than his closest pursuer South Africa’s Giniel de Villiers.
It was a similar story of dominance in the Middle East Rally Championship; Al-Attiyah romped to victory in Qatar, Kuwait, Iran, Cyprus and Jordan to secure his 11th MERC title with two rounds to spare. Rally of Lebanon, in which he crashed early on, was his only hiccup. With his Jordan Rally win, Al-Attiyah is now one triumph shy of equaling Mohammed Bin Sulayem’s record of 60 regional rally wins.
WRC 2 was a tougher affair for Al-Attiyah, who had to fight off the young Esapekka Lappi. He took the championship lead after two wins in Mexico and Portugal, but a crash in Poland saw him lose his position at the top to Lappi. He regained the championship lead after finishing fourth in Germany, before he struck back once again and won in Australia to extend his lead; he arguably pushed Lappi to a mistake in Spain and completed the event in third place to seal a second consecutive title.
Before clinching the WRC 2 and Middle East Rally Championship titles, Al-Attiyah had dominated the 2015 FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies, winning in Qatar, Egypt, Italy, Hungary and Morocco to comfortably secure the crown for the second time in his career (his first in 2008). The only event that he failed to win was Baja Poland, in which he finished runner-up. He was also stripped of his Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge victory early in the season after his MINI All4 Racing was found in breach of the regulations.
In total, Nasser amassed 13 victories in 3 different championships in 2015, and his Dakar Rally triumph brings his win tally to 14. His 4 titles looked like a walk in the park, and the season isn’t fully over yet as he’s expected to make appearances in the remaining rounds of the Middle East Rally Championship in Oman and Dubai.
So, the one question is: what more can the Qatari legend do in 2016? If 2015 is anything to go by, we expect quite a lot from him.
