Dubai : Shaikh Khalid Al Qasimi pledged yesterday to go flat out to present the UAE with a victory to celebrate in the 32nd Dubai International Rally over National Day weekend.
"I'm in it to win and nothing else," said the Team Abu Dhabi driver, who tackles the final round of the 2010 FIA Middle East Rally Championship partnered by Irish co-driver Michael Orr in a Super 2000 Ford Fiesta.
"It will be maximum attack. I'm not here just to participate or settle for a place on the podium. I want to win my home event on National Day weekend, not just for myself but for all the people of the UAE."
With the FIA World Rally Championship now his priority, Shaikh Khalid can do nothing to influence the outcome of the Middle East series, although he is determined to add to his back-to-back Dubai International Rally wins in 2005 and 2006.
Qatar's Misfer Al Merri carries a major advantage into the event as he bids to replace fellow countryman Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah as the FIA Middle East champion.
Despite winning the last two championship rounds in Syria and Cyprus, Al Attiyah is still eight points adrift of Al Merri who needs only a top six finish in Dubai to become the fourth Qatari, and the eighth driver overall, to win the championship since it was first held in 1984.
But Al Merri will do well to guard against complacency in an event which has produced many dramatic moments over the years, in a sport which so often throws up the unexpected.
Back in 1993, after finishing level on points with fellow Qatari Nasser Khalifa Al Attiyah, Shaikh Hamad Al Thani — who is back in action this time — clinched the title in Dubai on a countback because he had previously won the longest rally of the series in Jordan.
Qatar, which produced the first ever FIA Middle East champion in Saeed Al Hajri 26 years ago, could round off this campaign with a regional 1-2-3, as Khalid Al Suwaidi currently holds third place in the regional series.
