Top drivers hoping to make impact for BMW

Dubai: Top German lady driver Jutta Kleinschmidt and Qatar's Middle East rally champion Nasser Al Attiyah are boosting BMW's bid to make a major impact on next month's UAE Desert Challenge.

Kleinschmidt and Al Attiyah join forces with Spain's Jose Luis Monterde and Brazil's Paulo Nobre for a powerful four-car assault by the BMW X-raid team on the final round of the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup from November 5-10.

They will be aiming to prevent the mighty Mitsubishi and Volkswagen factory teams from dominating an event in which Monterde finished runner-up last year.

Both Monterde and Nobre will go into action at the wheel of the latest BMW X5 CC prototypes while Kleinschmidt and Al Attiyah will drive highly modified versions of the BMW X3CC. Defending champion Stéphane Peterhansel will start as the red hot favourite ahead of Mitsubishi team-mates Luc Alphand and Hiroshi Masuoka, although Volkswagen are looking to former world champions Ari Vatanen and Carlos Sainz to shift the balance of power in their favour.

But the combination of Monterde, Nobre, Kleinschmidt and Al Attiyah means BMW have multiple chances of getting on to the podium, especially in an event which has claimed some famous casualties in the past.

"The Mitsubishis will be difficult to beat, even for two great drivers like Ari and Carlos," said Mohammad Bin Sulayem, President of the Automobile and Touring Club for the UAE and chairman of the organising committee.