By Mikhil Bhat/Doha

 

Almost a week after it was deemed that his 10th Middle East Rally Championship title had evaded him for now, Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah was declared as the champion yesterday.

In the last MERC rally in Dubai, UAE’s Sheikh Khalid al-Qassimi had crossed the finish line 0.3 seconds faster than al-Attiyah and was named the champion. However, al-Attiyah found something amiss given al-Qassimi’s fast times, about which the Qatari said “never in his life, he showed that kind of speed”.

So the 43-year-old Qatari, who also won the 2014 WRC2 title, had around 20 volunteers positioned with cameras at different corners on the second day of the rally.

“He was cutting corners,” al-Attiyah said yesterday on the sidelines of the FIA Prize Giving Ceremony in Doha’s St. Regis Hotel. “He did not respect the rules. If somebody does not respect rules, I think there must be more penalties. We are sportsmen, professionals. I have spent 20 years in motorsport and Olympics. If you want to win, win it fair and not by cheating.”

Al-Attiyah said that while they had tried lodging a protest with the organisers in Dubai itself, they did not accept his protest. “We made a protest in Dubai, but they did not accept the protest because, in my opinion, they did not want to have a problem with Khalid. They don’t want to lose their jobs.

“I then approached the FIA, and they said that they will decide in Doha. So last night (Thursday), I sat with my two lawyers with them and showed them the evidence. Imagine if the cars are cutting corners and run through spectators. It is not acceptable because we love the sport and we don’t want to bring a bad name for it.”

Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah in action in the Dubai Rally last week

Al-Attiyah said racing in Dubai has been a bit of problem even in the past. In 2007, the rally had to be cancelled after spectator vehicles and other rubbish found their way on the rally route but al-Attiyah won the title because of his six rally wins compared to al-Qassimi’s two.

“If you go back to what happened to me in Dubai, the rally was cancelled. We are always worried to go to Dubai because some people, who did what they did in 2007, do not even respect the life of the driver,” al-Attiyah said, adding that he had asked FIA for some more observers for the Dubai rally.

“I am sure FIA is working hard to have some really good tracking systems. But when you come to an open desert, it doesn’t mean that you can go everywhere, you need to respect the route book. We respect the route book, and we go every corner the same way, but he did not.”

The 2014 MERC title means that al-Attiyah is only four titles away from the record of Mohamed bin Sulayem of UAE. “So far, I have WRC2, Dakar, so I am not worried. But we have a good plan. I think next year, we have eight races, which will make it easier. We can race five to six rallies, and we can still manage to win the championship.”