Dubai: Rashid Al Ketbi says he will be the only one to blame if he fails to halt a series of personal setbacks in the Dubai International Rally this weekend by ending the UAE’s seven-year wait for a home victory.
“If everything goes well, I know I can do it, and if I don’t, there will be no excuses,” says the Emirati driver, who will be partnered by German co-driver Karina Hepperle in the Skydive Dubai Ford Fiesta RRC.
“I’ve got a great team, a very experienced co-driver, and I’m going to give it everything I’ve got. It won’t be easy because all the other top drivers are capable of winning, but I hope this will be my year.”
Al Ketbi is particularly eager to win the 35th Dubai International Rally to thank Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai, for his consistent support.
With the backing of Skydive Dubai, Al Ketbi has undertaken a nine-event World Rally Championship programme this year, finishing 10th in the WRC2 category. His best WRC2 finishes were third in France, fourth in Monte Carlo and fifth in Greece and, immediately after the Dubai Rally, he will begin preparing for a 10-event WRC2 programme next year.
He is fully focused on the final round of the 2013 FIA Middle East Rally Championship, which will be flagged off at the Dubai World Trade Centre at 7.30pm on Thursday, prior to two days of fiercely competitive desert stages.
The event has, over the last three years, brought only frustration for Al Ketbi, who rolled and went out of the event in 2010 while holding second place and chasing victory. Twelve months later, he led the rally at the half-way point but eventually had to settle for second place as Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah stormed through on the second let to win. His hopes were high again last year, but Al Ketbi had to settle for third as Al Attiyah won for the sixth time in a row. It means Shaikh Khalid Al Qasimi’s second successive Dubai International Rally victory in 2006 was the last by a UAE driver.
