Hundreds to tackle dramatic Liwa terrain for premier off-road motorsport event
Competition for the 2010 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (ADDC) is set to be higher than ever, with more than 100 entries for the event so far.
The cross-country motorsport spectacular, which, for the second consecutive year will be totally staged across Abu Dhabi, will run from March 28 – April 1.
Organised by the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE (ATCUAE), the event is the season-opening round of both the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup and the FIM Cross Country Rallies World Championship.
Entry to the 2010 ADDC is open to cars and trucks complying with FIA T1, T2 and T4 technical regulations, as well as motorcyclists and quads running under FIM auspices.
The event, backed by Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), is further strengthening Abu Dhabi’s tourism, major event and motor sport credentials. These were also recently boosted by news that - pending FIA approval - the emirate will host Rally Abu Dhabi, a World Rally Championship (WRC) candidate event later this year.
ADDC competitors will face two days of documentation and scrutineering (March 25-26) before a Super Special Stage (March 27), which decides the starting order. Competitors then brave five days in the Liwa Desert and the Moreeb area of the Empty Quarter (Rub Al Khali), the world’s largest uninterrupted sand mass boasting some of its highest dunes.
“This emirate has some of the world’s most stunning desert terrain and event officials are working tirelessly to leverage this in finalising an ambitious and challenging route,” said Ahmed Hussein, Deputy Director General of Tourism Operations, ADTA.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, FIA Vice President, President of ATCUAE and Chairman of the 2010 ADCC Organising Committee, confirmed several top international teams and GCC drivers are expected at this year’s event.
The actual competitive action will get underway with a timed Super Special Stage in the UAE capital on the morning of March 27.
The outcome of the short off-road section, expected to attract thousands of motorsport enthusiasts, will determine the starting order for the event’s all-important first desert leg on March 28. This leg starts from Al Dhafrah plateau giving competitors an immediate introduction to the variations of terrain that they will face over the coming days, to a finish deep in the emirate’s remote desert.
A non-competitive liaison section will then guide teams to the first overnight halt at Moreeb Hill, near Liwa, where the rally will be based for the next four days, at a specially-prepared desert bivouac.
Legs two, three and four will feature demanding loop stages around Moreeb Hill, across somewhat challenging tracks, winding desert trails and the region’s notorious towering sand dunes.
Each stage will be divided by passage controls and route waypoints, said Sulayem, as competitors thread their way through the legendary Rub Al-Khali made famous by British explorer Wilfrid Thesiger.
The fifth and final leg will take place on April 1, with teams tackling a new desert section between Liwa to the event’s finish in Abu Dhabi city.
The UAE’s premier off-road event was the brainchild of Sulayem in 1991 and has been a FIA World Cup round since 1993. The rally has been managed by ATCUAE since 2006.
ADCC has traditionally attracted a host of partners and in 2010 these include Nissan, Adnoc and Explorer publishing.
