HA’IL (SAUDI ARABIA): Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah heads a six-strong Toyota and Overdrive Racing challenge at
a pair of forthcoming back-to-back Baja Hail events that will form the last two rounds of the radically revised 2020 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas.
In a season of global FIA motor sport decimated by the Covid-19 situation, the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF) managed to save the FIA Baja series by running two events that will decide the outcome of the five-round series.
Al-Attiyah will drive the sole Toyota Gazoo Racing entry over the course of the two events in the deserts of north-central Saudi Arabia and will be joined by Overdrive Racing entries for local star Yazeed Al Rajhi, the Dutch duo of Bernhard Ten Brinke and Erik van Loon, Frenchman Ronan Chabot and a Team Orlen/Overdrive Toyota Hilux for Poland’s Jakub Przygonski. An official Toyota entry is yet to claim a win at the Ha’il event.
The Belgium-based operation has been making pre-event preparations before heading to the Kingdom to prepare for the two Bajas in Ha’il that precede the Dakar Rally at the start of January 2021.
While Al-Attiyah and French navigator Matthieu Baumel look to round off the chaotic season by challenging for outright victory in their Toyota Hilux, Ten Brinke will be looking to try and clinch a first ever FIA Baja title. Partnered by the Belgian Tom Colsoul, Ten Brinke will arrive in Saudi Arabia locked in a duel for the title with Russian Vladimir Vasilyev after the Dutchman’s impressive win in Baja Portalegre last month.
The pressure will be on Ten Brinke to balance speed with a degree of caution in a bid to clinch the prestigious Drivers’ title.
“Our last test for the Dakar will be by doing Ha’il Baja,” said Baumel, who won events in Qatar and Andalucia this season with
Al Attiyah. “It’s good news that all the teams can compete in this race, just around 15 days before the start of Dakar. This is unusual because we are not normally allowed to test in the country of the rally and especially 15 days before. This will be good for us to drive a little bit on the sand, as we did not really compete this year due to the Covid.
“It will be good to be there for five days competing in this rally. It will be the last check for everything on our new Toyota. We are quite happy with Nasser to be there. It will also be good to work a little bit with all the navigation. It will be a good training for Dakar.”
