The Qatari off-road superstar and his trusted co-driver Mathieu Baumel keep getting better in the 2023 season
Despite the age of 52 years, Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah keeps getting better with each passing event. In mid-January, he won the Dakar Rally crown for the fifth time with his Andorra-based co-driver Mathieu Baumel. In February, there were more records for the off-road superstar and his trusted co-driver: Al-Attiyah won the 44th edition of the Qatar International Rally 2023, the second round of the 43rd Middle East Rally Championship (MERC). By virtue of his spectacular win behind the wheel of a Volkswagen Polo GTI, Al Attiyah won his fourth consecutive Qatar Rally title after 2019, 2021 and 2022 (the 2020 edition was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The Qatari champion captured his 17th Qatar Rally title, raising the number of his victories to an astonishing 83 out of 225 rounds in MERC history.
Continuing with his superb early season form, Al-Attiyah and co-driver Baumel clinched victory in the car category in their Toyota GR DKR Hilux at the end of a pulsating Qatar International Baja in March. Al-Attiyah controlled proceedings through the demanding last stage to take the day’s win by 10min 18sec from Chinese rival Guoyu Zhang and that was sufficient for the Qatari to finish 16min 21.6sec ahead of Overdrive Racing team-mates, Denis Krotov and Konstantin Zhiltsov, in their Toyota Hilux. Zhang and his Spanish co-driver Oriol Mena rounded off the podium places in their Baic ORC BJ40.
Al-Attiyah was pleased with his performance on home soil: “It was a good Baja. The first day I had a small margin and the second day I pushed a lot. I thank Jean-Marc (Fortin) from Overdrive Racing for bringing me a new car and thanks to Qatar Airways for flying this car over very swiftly so that I was able to compete here. I am very glad to win here again in my home race. I always want to compete in every international event in Qatar and it’s great to bounce back with a win after my big crash in Abu Dhabi.” He added: “The first stage was not easy because the road book was not really clear but we made two mistakes that cost 10 minutes. On the next two sections we pushed and were quite happy.”
Runner-up Krotov added: “After 35km, I had to stop and change the tyres. After that we lost a little power and didn’t have a big speed. One turbo was not working. But the race was good and I enjoyed the stages.”
Competitors tackled 224.96km on the final day and the route was split into four sections of 33.73km, 28.51km, 43.23km and 113.20km by three non-competitive transfer zones.
Overdrive Racing’s Juan Cruz Yacopini and Daniel Oliveras moved up to fourth overall on the final stage in the third of four Toyotas.
The experienced Meshari Al-Thefiri began the final day second in T3 behind his usual co-driver Nasser Al-Kuwari and the Kuwaiti delivered a solid stage performance to set the fastest time and sneak through to win the FIA T3 category for lightweight prototype machines on his first race with a new MCE-5 T3M and Oriol Vidal looking after the navigation. Al-Thefiri also finished fifth overall. He said: “We managed to finish. It’s so difficult with the road book to know if you are out of the route. It is not easy. The car was very good. We caught Nasser (Al-Kuwari) about 20km from the start, so I managed my pace then and I knew what my advantage was. I am very happy that this is the first win for the MCE-5. Hard luck to Nasser.”
With Nasser Al-Kuwari and French co-driver François Cazalet dropping precious minutes on the stage with the lack of brakes and punctures, that opened the door for the Qatari’s brother Abdulaziz to snatch second place in the category in his QMMF Rally Team Can-Am. On his debut in this type of motor sport, the former winner of the Qatar International Rally also finished in an excellent sixth in the general classification. Nasser came home in seventh and third in T3.
“From the first 20km, we had one flat tire and we changed it,” said Nasser Al-Kuwari. “Then we caught Meshari and we had another flat tire. We changed it. We caught him again and tried to pass him and then we had a third one. Then we had no chance to win and we just tried to get the car to the finish. We also had brake issues. But I am happy with my performance.”
Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari said: “Very happy to finish second. I would love to have won T3 but it is not easy after the delay with the puncture on the first day. Unlucky for Nasser to come with the third puncture. I took it safely. I wanted to do all the mileage. I want to transfer to this kind of rallies. I prefer this type of rallies. You don’t have to drive every week.”
The French crew of Jeremie Warnia and Loic Minaudier managed to overhaul Brazil’s Cristiano de Sousa Batista and Portuguese co-driver Fausto Moto to secure a narrow victory in the FIA T4 category in their Polaris RXR 1000 R. They finished eighth overall and beat their Can-Am rivals by 2min 10sec on the final day to secure a winning margin of just 30.3 seconds.
Seventeen minutes of time penalties for missing route waypoints had pushed Pau Navarro down the T4 rankings after the third stage in his FN Speed Team Can-Am. He climbed back to third on the final day.
Saudi Arabia’s Khalid Al-Feraihi and French co-driver Sébastien Delaunay boosted their FIA Middle East Baja Cup title aspirations with valuable points for finishing 11th overall in their Nissan Patrol behind the 10th-placed Ronan Chabot in his Overdrive Toyota.
Krzysztof Holowczyc (Mini JCR Rally Plus) and Ahmed Al-Shegawi (Can-Am) retired on Friday after their mechanical issues.
2023 Qatar International Baja – Positions after stage 4:
FIA – Cars (Top 16 only)
- Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Mathieu Baumel (AND) Toyota GR DKR Hilux 4hr 51min 49.7sec*
- Denis Krotov (KGZ)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (ISR) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 5hr 08min 11.3sec*
- Guoyu Zhang (CHN)/Oriol Mena (ESP) Baic ORC BJ40 5hr 11min 00.6sec*
- Juan Cruz Yacopini (ARG)/Daniel Oliveras (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 5hr 23min 50.9sec*
- Meshari Al-Thefiri (KWT)/Oriol Vidal (ESP) MCE-5 T3M (T3) 5hr 30min 32.4sec*
- Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Alexei Kuzmich (ARE) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T3) 5hr 38min 05.3sec+
- Nasser Al-Kuwari (QAT)/François Cazalet (FRA) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T3) 5hr 42min 23.3sec+
- Jeremie Warnia (FRA)/Loic Minaudier (FRA) Polaris RZR 1000 R (T4) 5hr 45min 51.5sec*
- Cristiano de Sousa Batista (BRA)/Fausto Mota (PRT) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo (T4) 5hr 46min 21.8sec*
- Ronan Chabot (FRA)/Gilles Pillot (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 5hr 47min 36.5sec*
- Khalid Al-Feraihi (SAU)/Sébastien Delaunay (FRA) Nissan Pick-Up 5hr 56min 24.7sec+
- Otavio Sousa (BRA)/João Ferreira (PRT) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T3) 5hr 59min 07.7sec*
- Fernando Alvarez (ESP)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T3) 5hr 59min 39.7sec*
- Pau Navarro (ESP)/Gonçalo Reis (PRT) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo (T4) 6hr 02min 01.5sec*
- Ahmed Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Manuel Luchesse (QAT) Yamaha YXZ 1000 R (T4) 6hr 07min 26.6sec+
- Adel Abdulla (QAT)/Marc Serra (QAT) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T3) 6hr 11min 45.9sec
1 unless stated
- *denotes registered for FIA World Cup
- denotes registered for FIA Middle East Cup
