Former Dakar Rally champions Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah (left) shows his cellphone to Spain’s Marc Coma during a press conference at Losail International Circuit yesterday. PICTURES: SHAIVAL DALAL
BY RIZWAN REHMAT
DOHA: Home advantage would be of little use if road book information and quality co-pilot support are not utilised with common-sense intelligence, rally star Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah said yesterday.
The 42-year-old Qatari is seeking to defend his title at the Sealine Cross-Country Rally which will be held on rugged terrain across the country this week.
“Yes, I have the advantage of knowing the race area but that won’t help if I didn’t have the support of a quality co-pilot or if I didn’t use the information in the road book, Al Attiyah said.
“Thankfully, I have Lucas (Cruz Senra) as my co-pilot. Lucas is a very reliable hand to have because we are going to race on a tough route,” the Qatari said.
“We have stones and hard gravel here. It is not just sand in our route. Then I also have the road book which helps us in our navigation,” he added.
Al Attiyah said a winning run against a ‘field of tough competitors’ would help in his preparation for next year’s Dakar Rally, the world’s biggest off-road challenge.
“We have tested our new car but we will know more after we are done in Qatar. This will help us at the Dakar Rally next year,” Al Attiyah said.
“It is always helpful if you have a reliable car at the Dakar Rally,” Al Attiyah said. “It is not an easy race for any of the participants,” he said. “But we have the experience,” Al Attiyah warned.
Al Attiyah, who famously won the bronze medal in the skeet shooting competition at the London Games in August 2012, confirmed he was running his new ‘Desert Buggy’ this week.
“It is a new car. We have done a couple of tests, small tests in Morocco, but we are eyeing bigger races now. The cross-country rally is big in Qatar,” he said.
“We don’t have much experience with the Buggy right now but we like our chances,” he said.
“We had a few wheel bearing problems (during the Dakar Rally) but we have fixed those problems now. Jean-Luis helped us since he is in the same class (of riding),” Al Attiyah said during a pre-event press conference.
When reminded about of 2012 Olympic Games heroics, Al Attiyah presented a huge, boyish smile.
“Yes, many drivers and riders asked about it when I was at the Dakar Rally (in January this year),” Al Attiyah said. “They wanted to know how I did it. I shared my experience with them, telling them how it was like to compete at the Olympic Games.
“It was an amazing feeling to win that medal for Qatar. Personally, it was a great moment for me to win the bronze,” Al Attiyah said.
French driver Jean-Louis Schlesser, who will be behind the wheels of his Schlesser Original, echoed Al Attiyah’s comments on the tough route. “We have a lot of competition on a very tough route,” Schlesser said. “There are many corners so I guess this will be a race for the co-pilots,” he added. THE PENINSULA
