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The UAE’s Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi is prepared for a start-to-finish battle in the Jordan Rally this weekend as he looks to find a winning formula with Abu Dhabi Racing in the 2013 FIA Middle East Rally Championship.
Al Qassimi, partnered by British co-driver Scott Martin in his Abu Dhabi Citroën Total World Rally Team DS3 RRC, knows he will have to produce one of the best performances of his career to score his second victory in Jordan, where 30 drivers from eight countries have gathered for the third round of this year’s regional series.
This is very much a season of development for the DS3 RRC. Al Qassimi, the winner in Jordan in 2007, is having to be patient as his team looks to find the best set up for the regional version of the car which is also being tweaked from event to event for Mikko Hirvonen and Dani Sordo in the World Rally Championship.
“Basically, it was built to suit the driving style of Sébastien Loeb (9-times world champion), and myself and the other drivers are finding it difficult to get it the way we want it,” he said.
“We have a very good package overall, but the car needs a lot more testing in the Middle East. Mikko hasn’t found the right balance yet, and there’s much more work to do to get it right for me.
“But I’m confident we will. I have a fantastic team behind me and we’ve been doing a lot of good work in testing this week, so I’m hoping to see the results at the weekend.”
Jordan’s special stages, many of which were shaped by the country’s three years in the World Rally Championship in 2008, 2010 and 2011, pose their own special challenge, and Al Qassimi readily acknowledges that he faces a stern test this weekend.
“The Jordan Rally, and the rounds in Cyprus and Lebanon, are not my best and I’m more at home with the conditions in Qatar, and obviously the UAE,” says the Emirati driver, who leads a five car assault by Abu Dhabi Racing.
“But you have to take a positive feeling into every rally, and that’s what I’m going to do. I didn’t have a great rally in Jordan last year because it was my first event back from injury. But I have won there before and I’m going to give it my best shot.”
The Jordan Rally begins with a ceremonial start in Amman on Thursday before two days of competitive action in the Jordan Valley, close to the Dead Sea.
Completing the Abu Dhabi Racing line-up in Jordan are Majed Al Shamsi and Bader Al Jabri, products of the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority’s Junior Driver Training Programme, in a pair of Subaru N15s, and Mohammed Al-Sahlawi and Mohammed Al Mutawaa, who compete in the two-wheel drive class in two Citroen DS3 R3 2WDs.
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