LUSAIL (Qatar): The Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) has received a record number of entries and strength in depth across all the various categories for the three-day Qatar International Baja.
The competition will be held here from March 16-18.
Competitors from a staggering 31 nations is further broken down into 47 cars in the FIA category and 51 motorcycles and four quads, which will compete in the second round of the FIM Bajas World Cup.
“We have been delighted with the response to this year’s Qatar International Baja,” said Amro Al Hamad, Executive Director of the QMMF.
“Cross-country rallying is the fastest growing of all the sports under the FIA umbrella and it is great to see so many international entrants joining a very strong line-up of motorcycles competing in the FIM Bajas World Cup.
“Our event has a reputation for being a major challenge for all levels of ability. Not only does our event offer varied desert terrain but we also devise a route with tricky navigation that offers a great challenge to our competitors.”
Seven T1+ and three T1 cars, three in the T2 section for series production cross-country machines, 21 in the lightweight prototype T3 category and 13 T4 vehicles will tackle the Baja, which counts as the second round of both the FIA World and Middle East Cups for Cross-Country Bajas.
Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah, Toyota Hilux team-mate Juan Cruz Yacopini and Polish driver Krzysztof Holowczyc (Mini JCW Rally Plus) closed out the podium on the opening round of the FIA World Cup in Saudi Arabia last month and they head the car field.
Saleh Al-Saif tops a formidable T3 entry and will be hoping to build upon his Saudi win. Defending FIA champion Fernando Alvarez and last year’s series runner-up Dania Akeel are the Saudi’s closest challengers after round one in their South Racing Can-Ams, although all T3 points scorers from round one are present in Saudi Arabia and include Kees Koolen, Santiago Navarro and Otavio Sousa.
