Defending FIA World Cup T2 champion Adel Abdulla will be aiming to get the defence of his title back on track after a disappointing start to the season, when he tackles the Qatar Cross-Country Rally from Tuesday (April 17) through to Saturday (April 22).
The Nissan Patrol driver finds himself unofficially 35 points adrift of the series leader after the opening three rounds of the series in Russia, Dubai and Abu Dhabi failed to deliver a result that the Qatari had bargained for.
Running with support from Saleh Al-Hamad Al-Mana Co (Nissan Qatar), Ooredoo and the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF), for his QX Rally Team Nissan, Adel knows the importance of pushing hard for the T2 win against a formidable line-up of drivers entered in the increasingly popular category for series production cross-country vehicles.
Technical issues and time penalties meant that the Qatari and French navigator Sébastien Delaunay finished fifth in the recent Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and, with double points on offer at both that event and the forthcoming rally in Qatar, it’s imperative that the Nissan driver bounces back with a top podium finish in his TOK Sport-run car.
“This rally is extremely important to me in order to reduce the gap with the leader,” admitted Adel Abdulla. “Bad luck has set me back on the first three rounds. I don’t have any answers for it either. Each rally is unique with its events and stories.
“This is also an important event for my sponsors, Ooredoo, Saleh Al-Hamad Al-Mana Co and the QMMF. I am also representing my country on this home event so I am hoping to be lucky.
“I don’t have any particular strategy except for pushing hard from the very start and keeping the pressure on all the time. I need 50 points for the win. I don’t know what will happen with the other drivers and there are a lot of participants in T2 this time. My rivals from last year are here and there are two more in the same team who will give him more confidence and some other local drivers.”
The QMMF has received an excellent entry in the T2 category. Aside from the entry for Adel Abdulla, there are entries for the Saudi Arabian trio of Yasir Saeidan, Ahmed al-Malki and Ahmed al-Shegawi, young Emirati Mansoor al-Helai and four additional Nissan Patrols for the Qatari quartet of Mohamed al-Harqan, Rashid al-Mohannadi, Jamal Fakhroo and Mohamed al-Meer.
The competitive action gets underway with a timed super special stage at the Losail motocross facility after the official pre-event press conference on Tuesday. Over the next four days, there will be around 1,374 kilometres timed against the clock in a route of just under 2,000 kilometres through the Qatar deserts.
Adel Abdulla
