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Nine years after making his first ever World Rally Championship appearance in Greece, the UAE’s Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi says four previous appearances in the Acropolis Rally will count for little when he returns to action in the event tomorrow.
Partnered by British co-driver Scott Martin in his Abu Dhabi Citroën Total World Rally Team DS3 WRC, Al Qassimi says it is like starting all over again in a rally which shows major changes from his last visit in 2009, with all new stages, and a rare section run in darkness.
“My first Acropolis Rally was completely different as it was run 300km from where we are now, so there’s no comparison,” said the Emirati driver. “All I can remember is that it was raining a lot, and that it was very tough. But all WRC events are tough, so I didn’t expect anything else.
“The last time I competed here was four years ago, and I don’t think any of the previous rallies I did here will help me this time. I’ll just take it as it comes.”
For the last two days, Al Qassimi has been taking medication after falling sick before starting testing on Tuesday. “I started the day not feeling well as I ate something the night before which didn’t agree with me, and I had a fever and a virus,” he said.
“But apart from that, the testing was good. We tried different set-ups with the car and changed a lot of things. The biggest changes made so far are to the roll bar. We also made changes to the diff, the pitch of the car, and the springs, to suit the conditions which are rough and fast.
We also did night testing which was very difficult, more difficult than in the daytime. It’s a lot more unpredictable driving in the dark and it’s harder to pick out the angles, ditches and pitches of the roads.”
After a full day of testing along 180km of rugged, mountainous gravel trails on Tuesday followed by a 300-km recce of the route over the next two days, there will barely be time for Al Qassimi’s early breakfast to settle before he clambers into his Abu Dhabi Citroën DS3 for Friday’s traditional shakedown.
Two hours later, he enters the battle to decide the starting positions in the rally as the cars tackle a 3.1km qualifying stage, prior to joining Abu Dhabi Citroën team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Dani Sordo, and other WRC stars, in making a contribution to a children’s charity in Greece.
Together, they will autograph specially designed bicycles, decorated in team colors, which will later be used to raise money through an online auction.
Immediately afterwards, Al Qassimi, Hirvonen and Sordo will join other WRC drivers in adding their signatures to a sign board, pledging commitment to the 10 Golden Rules for Safer Motoring, which are central to the FIA’s global Action for Road Safety campaign.
Al Qassimi later takes his place as the ninth seed at the ceremonial start in Athens, before the rally roars to life in front of thousands of fans.
The 47.7km first special stage run in daylight is followed by a 26km competitive section driven in darkness, meaning the drivers must make a quick adjustment to avoid any costly errors before the overnight halt. With ten more stages following on Saturday and the final four on Sunday, Al Qassimi is looking for an all-round improvement on his ninth place finish in Portugal last month where he scored his first WRC points of the season, but was not happy with the result.
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