Dubai: The UAE’s Shaikh Khaild Al Qasimi and Mohammad Al Baloushi top respective driver and riders’ seedings for this weekend’s 174-km Dubai International Baja, which starts and finishes at the Dubai Autodrome via the Al Qudra Desert from March 8-10.
Shaikh Khaild starts as a favourite to win the second round of this year’s FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies for cars and buggies after finishing runner-up last year. Al Baloushi meanwhile, will be looking for a good start in this event, which is the opening round of the FIM Bajas World Cup for bikes and quads after finishing third last year.
The pair head a list of 88 competitors from 19 countries.
“We have a top-class entry and look forward to two days of classic cross country rallying over a spectacular route across the dunes and plains of the Al Qudra desert,” said FIA Vice-President Mohammad Bin Sulayem, who is also President of the Automobile and Touring Club for the UAE (ATCUAE) and Emirates Motor Sport Federation.
Following Shaikh Khaild into the desert will be Czech Martin Prokop, who took second in the first round of this year’s FIA World Cup series in Russia, last month.
Vladimir Vasilyev, a back-to-back winner of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in 2014 and 2015, is seeded third in the line-up of 32 cars and buggies.
They will be followed by last year’s FIA World Cup runner-up, Poland’s Jakub Przygonski, fifth seed Yasser Seaidan, who finished fifth overall in last year’s FIA World Cup standings and fifth in Russia recently.
After Al Baloushi in the bikes category, the other five seeds include; Shannon O’Connor, Abdullah Bin Dakhan, Mohammad Anis and last year’s runner-up Benjamin Melot. Also aiming for a title defence is Kuwait’s Fahad Al Musallam, who won the quads category last year.
