LUSAIL, QATAR – Norway’s Mads Østberg and Swedish co-driver Patrik Barth took a slender lead in their Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 after the opening 4.36km super special of the Qatar International Rally at the LCSC Karting Academy on Thursday evening.
Twenty-two crews from 16 nations were flagged away from a new ceremonial start on Lusail Boulevard by QMMF President Abdulrahman Al-Mannai. Over two laps and two passes of the 1.09km asphalt course, Østberg was 0.8 seconds faster than Pierre-Louis Loubet and Loris Pascaud, who are tackling a desert rally for the first time in their SRT Škoda.
It’s a pleasure to be here and I am really looking forward to the rally. I know it is going to be very challenging. I hope I can find my braking points in the open desert for the corners and not brake too late!
Pierre-Louis Loubet
Last year’s joint regional champion Abdullah Al-Rawahi and Jordanian co-driver Ata Al-Hmoud were third in their Autotek-run Škoda.
This first rally of the year is going to be quite a challenge, bearing in mind our last event was in Cyprus (October 2023). I hope this will be an amazing year. We are pushing. We want to compete for the win. Every year we get closer and closer. Last year was very disappointing. We broke the engine. This year we also have a new challenge of the JWRC and we have Rally Sweden in a couple of weeks. I am very excited for that. These will be new experiences. Hopefully this year is another good learning curve for us.
Abdullah Al-Rawahi
Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Giovanni Bernacchini were fourth in their Autotek Motorsport Volkswagen Polo GTI. Local driver Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, with Irish co-driver James Fulton in a Sarrazin-supplied Polo for the first time, was fifth.
I am looking forward to this rally and happy to be in a rally car again after even more than a year. They are good stages, mixed, some technical sections and some fast and some bumpy sections. We did a good test. It’s the first time in the Polo. I need some more time in the car to properly adapt but we are happy. It’s very similar to the Škoda. It is going to be a very good competition. Thanks to the QMMF for putting me in a rally car again.
Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari
1993 winner Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya, now partnered by Lebanon’s Ziad Chehab, was 10th in his Motortune Ford Fiesta.
I did two days of testing with the new car. I am hoping to adapt better than last year. I feel more committed in the car now and hope to be pushing hard this year. I have more experience and I did two rounds in the World Championship in Portugal and Sardinia. That gave me a lot of time to sit and race. I am also happy with my new co-driver Ziad and the Motortune team. This year will be different for me.
Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya
Jordan’s Shaker Jweihan was fastest in MERC2, 11.4 seconds ahead of Lebanon’s Ahmad Khaled, while Indian debutant Fabid Amer stopped with a reported fuel-feed problem.
Latvia’s Mārtiņš Sesks withdrew at the last minute after falling ill with a virus in Doha. With co-driver Renārs Francis unable to read English pace notes, SRT would have needed a new driver and co-driver for its third Škoda, which was not possible in time.
Friday’s route
Crews face two loops of Waab Al-Mashrab (15.32km), Al-Waab (15.33km) and Umm Birka (21.38km) in Qatar’s northern deserts, starting at 09:20, 09:48 and 10:30 and repeated from 13:20 after midday service at the Lusail Sports Arena. A strengthening wind is forecast, which should reduce dust unless it turns into a sandstorm.