Dubai: Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah will go all out to win the Dubai International Rally over the UAE National Day weekend before heading straight to France to sign an agreement to join Citroen in next year's World Rally Championship.
Al Attiyah aims to clinch the FIA Middle East Rally Championship for a seventh time by successfully defending his Dubai Rally title, prior to securing a new deal which will underline his growing status as one of the world's top drivers.
The Qatari says that his victory in the 2011 Dakar Rally had paved the way for him to become the third Citroen works driver in the prestigious 2012 World Rally Championship, in which he will contest all 13 rounds.
While the final details of the agreement have yet to be confirmed, the result will be that the three Citroen Total World Rally Team WRC cars next year — to be driven by reigning world champion Sébastien Loeb, Finn Mikko Hirvonen and Al Attiyah — will all carry Qatar branding.
Al Attiyah is joining a formidable Citroen team which has just completed a superb 2011 WRC season, securing ten individual rally victories as well as a seventh manufacturers' title to add to Loeb's eighth drivers' crown.
Immediate priority
But his immediate priority is the 33rd Dubai International Rally this weekend, when he needs no more than a seventh place finish to secure the FIA Middle East title for a seventh time.
"I'm going to Dubai to win the rally, not finish seventh," he said.
"But I must be clever as I want to make sure of the championship. I always enjoy driving in the Dubai Rally. It's the last rally of the season and it's a special event for me."