Abu Dhabi: The UAE’s Shaikh Khalid Al Qasimi and Poland’s Jakub Przygonski produced a dead heat on the super special spectator stage which launched the 28th Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge powered by Nissan at the Yas Marina Circuit on Saturday.
Partnered by Frenchman Xavier Panseri in his Peugeot Abu Dhabi Racing Team 3008 DKR, Shaikh Khalid was timed at 1 minute, 11.1 seconds — the same time as Dubai International Baja champion Jakub Przygonski and Belgian co-driver Tom Colsoul in their Mini John Cooper — over the 1.9km time trial set on the Yas Marina Circuit.
A total of 36 cars and buggies went into action for the super special spectator stage along with another group of 33 bikes and quads as the event warmed up for five days of spectacular cross country rallying to follow in the deserts of the Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi.
As per regulations governing the sport, drivers are allowed to choose their starting position and Shaikh Khalid chose to commence Sunday’s Leg One in seventh position behind noteworthy names such as Great Britain’s Harry Hunt and French co-driver Sebastien Delauney in their Peugeot 2008 DKR, last year’s runner-up Martin Prokop and Jan Tomanek in their Ford-150 Evo and Dubai International Baja champion Jakub Przygonski and Belgian co-driver Tom Colsoul in their Mini John Cooper.
“The usual practice among drivers is that we try and pick up a position further down the order as we tend to get better lines for driving during the course of the race. But in my case I wanted to stay very close to drivers that I feel are among the strongest challengers to the defence of my title,” Shaikh Khalid said after Saturday’s Super Special Stage.
“From experience I know that these drivers are fast, and they’ve proved this during the last rally [Dubai International Baja]. They have a lot of experience in cross country racing especially in the Desert Challenge. So I just wanted to be behind them so that I can stay close to them. If you ask me to choose again I would most probably choose No. 10, but then I thought the drivers starting in No. 8 and 9 [Shameer Variawa/Zaheer Bodhanya and Terence Marsh/Riaan Greyling] may be a bit difficult to pass. So the strategy is to choose fast drivers so that you will get less dust and clear lines to go for it,” he added.
The cars, buggies, bikes and quads were flagged off into the super stage by Major General Mohammad Khalfan Al Rumaithi, Chairman of the General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare (GAYSW) in the presence of Mohammad Bin Sulayem, President of the ATCUAE and FIA Vice President for Sport, Prince Khalid Al Faisal, President of the Motor Federation of Saudi Arabia and Kalyana Sivagnanam, President, Nissan Middle East and Regional Vice-President Africa, Middle East and India region.
Prior to the super stage, Sulayem — who won 14 FIA Middle East Rally Championship titles in a record-breaking career — displayed his legendary driving skills in a series of circuit laps at the wheel of a Nissan Patrol, the official car for the event.
