in two rally championships
The capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, maintained its leading presence on two of the highest profile rally championships this weekend, the FIA Middle East Rally Championship and the FIA World Rally Championship. In the MERC, Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi finished the Cyprus Rally fourth overall in the Team Abu Dhabi Group N Subaru but as the second championship-registered driver and therefore maintains his overall lead of the series. While in Corsica, Marcus Grönholm finished as runner-up in the Abu Dhabi-partnered BP-Ford World Rally Team on the second WRC asphalt rally in as many weekends, to maintain the lead in both the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ titles.
Abu Dhabi’s rally ambassador, Al Qassimi was making his return to the MERC after almost a four-month break, during which time he competed in three WRC events in the third works Abu Dhabi-branded Ford Focus RS WRC, in Finland, Germany and Spain. In the run-up to the Cypriot event, he predicted a difficult transition from the World Rally Car on asphalt to his Group N Subaru on gravel but vowed to put in the maximum effort into his chase for this year’s overall MERC title.
“It will be a tricky situation returning to the MERC, as there are effectively three switches I need to change position on. The first is the switch from the WRC to the MERC. My last outing in the MERC was in June, so it is a while since I have been in that mindset and I need to adapt to that. Secondly, I’ll be moving from tarmac to rough gravel and therefore, the driving technique will be completely different.
“Thirdly, I will be in a Group N car as opposed to a World Rally Car. So it will have less power, the brakes will not be so effective and there will not be the same degree of grip or performance. Also, now I have competed on three WRC events, I am used to pushing the car hard, to get the best from it. But in a group N car, the components will not take anywhere near as much punishment, so I will have to be much easier on the car.
“So there are a lot of changes I need to make in terms of my approach and technique but I’m going to Cyprus with one goal – to win the event.”
The two-day rally started in controversial circumstances, as protesters caused the cancellation of the first two stages on Saturday morning. After considerable delay, the event resumed with the two stages originally planned, on Saturday afternoon. Al Qassimi lived up to his prediction and set an excellent pace, third fastest on each of the two tests to end the admittedly shortened first day in third overall, behind leader local specialist Charalambos Timotheo and MERC rival, second-placed Nasser Al-Attiyah.
Disaster struck at the beginning of the second day though, which comprised five stages, including two runs of the 32Km Anadiou stage. One of the Subaru’s front driveshafts broke on the first stage and Al Qassimi was forced to complete the rest of the stage with only rear-wheel drive, dropping him back to 4th overall. However, the following stage was a 30Km test and the problem caused an even greater time loss over the longer distance, dropping Al Qassimi and co-driver Nicky Beech to 8th overall and almost six minutes back from Al-Attiyah.
The Team Abu Dhabi technicians replaced the driveshaft at the following service and Al Qassimi began a fight-back up the leader board to reclaim some of the lost time. However, now almost six minutes back and with only three stages remaining, he knew it would be a mammoth task.
He set the second-fastest time on the first running of the 32Km Anadiou stage, re-claiming a minute from Al-Attiyah but then lost 40 seconds to the Qatari on the re-run. However, his performance was enough to move him back up the leader board to fifth overall and third in the MERC points by the start of the penultimate stage, the second run of the 28Km Panagia-Arminou test.
With the time lost earlier in the day, Al Qassimi knew that catching Al-Attiyah would be an impossible task but his goal now was to pass Andreas Tsouloftas to reclaim second in the MERC drivers’ standing. He went through the final stage third fastest but more importantly, sufficiently quicker than Tsouloftas to claim the all-important second place and the additional two MERC points which went with it. Therefore, he maintains a healthy eight-point lead in the championship, with just two rounds remaining.
Speaking after the end of the event, Al Qassimi said; “It’s been a tough weekend, as I thought it would be, making the transition back to the Group N car from the World Rally Car. However, there were several small adjustments I made to the car as a result of the experience I gained in the WRC and I think that helped. I was slightly apprehensive to begin with but as the event went on, I settled into it much more and am pleased to have finished second and maintain the championship lead.
“It was a shame we had the problem at the start of the second day but in a way it made me even more determined to put in a good performance. It certainly gave me something to aim for, getting back to second in the results for the MERC title, as that’s the main focus for Team Abu Dhabi this season.
“I hope that the two WRC events-worth of tarmac experience will help on the next round of the MERC, the Lebanon Rally, which is also asphalt. It will certainly be an exciting last two rounds as we chase for the title.”
In the WRC, Al Qassimi’s BP-Ford World Rally Team team-mate Marcus Grönholm gave Sebastien Loeb a run for his money on the Frenchman’s home event, the Rallye de France – Tour de Corse. Grönholm showed his best pace yet on dry tarmac, the two drivers separated by only seconds throughout the event. As in Spain, Loeb snatched the lead at the end of the first day and although Grönholm was able to stay in touch, he was not able to eat into Loeb’s lead and completed the event in second, just 24 seconds off the winner’s time.
Team-mate Mikko Hirvonen had a less successful weekend, a rare mistake causing the younger Finn to crash and damage his suspension too much to continue on the first day. However, he did return under the SupeRally regulations and completed the event in 13th place, claiming the final Manufacturers’ point in the process.
This result means that Grönholm’s lead in the drivers’ title has been cut to four points, with three events remaining. However, the Abu Dhabi-back Ford team has a strong 32-point lead in the Manufacturers’ title race, with three events to run.
Commenting on the weekend’s action, Ahmed Hussein, Deputy Director General of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, the body responsible for the Emirates’ rally program, said; “This has been a thrilling weekend of action for the emirate of Abu Dhabi in rallying. Our national team, Team Abu Dhabi put in an excellent, determined performance to retain the lead in the Middle East Rally Championship and it looks like this series will have a thrilling climax over the next two events. The result in Corsica for our partners at the BP-Ford World Rally Team also means that the remainder of the WRC will prove just as exciting, I’m sure.
“It is exactly this reason that Abu Dhabi chose the Middle East Rally Championship and the World Rally Championship as key components in our programme to develop awareness of the emirate as a world-class destination. This weekend justifies our involvement perfectly and I look forward to celebrating success with both Team Abu Dhabi and the Ford team at the end of the season.”
