Overdrive Racing’s Krotov, Yacopini and Chabot finish 2nd, 4th and 10th

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Andorra-based co-driver Mathieu Baumel romped to a comfortable win in the Qatar International Baja, round two of the 2023 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas.
But delays on the first stage on Friday had cost the Toyota Hilux crew time and they had to fight their way back from third place to regain the lead they held to the finish.
Al-Attiyah has now won each of the five Qatar Bajas that have run since 2004 to accompany his seven victories in nine seasons at the longer Qatar Cross-Country Rally. Five cross-country and two Baja wins have come with different versions of the Toyota Hilux. The success marked Baumel’s eighth alongside Al-Attiyah.
Al-Attiyah was also able to extend his lead in the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas Drivers’ Championship. He said: “It was a good Baja. The first day I had a small margin and the second day I pushed a lot. I thank Jean-Marc (Fortin) from Overdrive Racing for bringing me a new car and thanks to Qatar Airways for flying this car over very swiftly so that I was able to compete here. I am very glad to win here again on my home race. I always want to compete in every international event in Qatar and it’s great to bounce back with a win after my big crash in Abu Dhabi.”
While Al-Attiyah was entered under the Toyota Gazoo Racing banner and drove a T1+ car supplied by Lithuania’s Benediktas Vanagas, Overdrive Racing also entered three Toyota Hiluxes for Denis Krotov and Konstantin Zhiltsov, Argentina’s Juan Cruz Yacopini and Spanish co-driver Dani Oliveras and the French duo of Ronan Chabot and Gilles Pillot.
Krotov adapted well to driving the car that had been used by Henk Lategan at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and he moved into second overall when Krzysztof Holowczyc retired with engine cooling issues. He managed to hold his nerve over the final challenging stage to finish 16min 21.6sec behind Al-Attiyah in second overall.

Krotov said: “After 35km, I had to stop and change the tyres. After that we lost a little power and didn’t have a big speed. One turbo was not working. But the race was good and I enjoyed the stages.”

Yacopini had finished the Prologue in ninth place but he climbed to sixth after stage two and up to fifth heading into the final stage. Another solid performance by the Argentine was rewarded with fourth overall and vital points towards the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas.
Chabot started cautiously on his return to the Overdrive Racing fold. He had been down in 20th after the Prologue, lost time on the longer of Friday’s stages and then recovered well to hold 16th before 8min 15sec of time penalties knocked him back to 18th. The Frenchman’s best run of the weekend was third quickest through the final stage and that lifted him to 10th overall
Because his Toyota GR DKR Hilux had been damaged after a barrel-roll in Abu Dhabi, Al-Attiyah’s car was shipped in from Portugal and sported a new colour scheme for the opening 9.08km Prologue stage. He rewarded the team’s preparation efforts with the fastest time of 5min 49.5sec and he moved into a 4.8-second lead over Holowczyc.
Krotov was penalised five seconds for a jump start but still managed to finish third, while Yacopini and Chabot came home in ninth and 20th overall.
The second leg ran for 234.34km and included a second stage of 117.29km and two parts of a third stage (46.05km and 70.53km), which were split by a transfer zone.
Al-Attiyah lost the lead to Holowczyc on the longer first stage and then battled back to set the fastest time on the next one to lead by 2min 33.8sec at the end of the day.
Krotov held second place, despite two flat tyres and Yacopini and Chabot were classified in fifth and 18th overall.

Al-Attiyah said: “The first stage was not easy because the road book was not really clear but we make two mistakes that cost 10 minutes. On the next two sections we pushed and are quite happy.”

Krotov added: “Today was good. No problems with navigation. My co-driver did a good job. Two punctures cost us time.”

Saturday’s second selective section offered 224.96km and ran over four timed parts of 33.73km, 28.51km, 43.23km and 113.20km split by non-competitive transfer zones

Al-Attiyah was in no mood to let victory slip away in his home deserts and the Qatari claimed the stage win from Guoyu Zhang to secure a comfortable win. Krotov came home in fourth, behind Chabot, to secure second place and Yacopini climbed to fourth with the fifth quickest time.
There is now a four-month lay-off before the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies resumes with the Italian Baja on July 6th-9th
In the meantime, Overdrive Racing switches its main focus to the new Sonora Rally in México, round three of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship, taking place on April 22nd-28th.

2023 Qatar International Baja – result (unofficial @ 15.15hrs):
1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Mathieu Baumel (AND) Toyota GR DKR Hilux 4hr 51min 49.7sec
2. Denis Krotov (KGZ)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (ISR) Toyota Hilux Overdrive5hr 08min 11.3sec
3. Guoyu Zhang (CHN)/Oriol Mena (ESP) Baic ORC BJ40 5hr 11min 00.6sec
4. Juan Cruz Yacopini (ARG)/Daniel Oliveras (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 5hr 23min 50.9sec
5. Meshari Al-Thefiri (KWT)/Oriol Vidal (ESP) MCE-5 T3M (T3) 5hr 30min 32.4sec

*T1 unless stated

Source Overdrive Racing

This race was valid for FIM Bajas World Cup, round 2

The Qatar International Baja is renowned for its very precise navigation and Junior rider Konrad Dabrowski (KTM Duust) won the race for the second successive year.
While many riders got lost, Briton Robert Wallace (KTM) managed to maintain his focus to secure the second step of the podium. Mirjam Pol (KTM) has every right to be very proud of her performance, as she sailed through the field to secure the final place on the podium.
Victory in the quad category fell to the Belgian Arnoud Dom.

Coached by his father Marek for riding and by his former teammate Jacek Czachor to improve his navigation skills, the Konrad Dabrowski has made great progress and clinched victory by more than 38 minutes from Robert Wallace.
He said: “I like coming to Qatar because I have a lot of experience and I can work on my navigation and my riding there. I won the Prologue on Thursday and was able to choose the ninth starting position for SS2. It was a good position to catch the leaders and gain as much time as possible, which I managed to do before refuelling. I understood then that the result would be there. In the second part of the special, I opened the track and it was a very nice day. Today, I took the start not in good shape at all because I was sick after having slept with the air conditioning. It was really difficult to ride in the second part of the stage... I arrived very tired but happy to win this race!”

The nice surprise came when Mirjam Pol climbed on to the third step of the podium and obviously won the Women's category. She said: "I was very surprised to finish on the podium of the Qatar International Baja. Because, yesterday, I was eighth overall. But when I arrived in the dunes, I only had two tracks in front of me, whereas I had started the last selective section in seventh position. I had a good pace in the race but it is mainly thanks to my good navigation that I am in third position. For two days, I marked all the waypoints. In any case, it's a nice surprise!”
Pol finished 1min 43sec ahead of Andrew Houlihan but the Australian had the consolation of winning the Veteran’s category and finishing in a fine fourth place.
A strong performance was expected from Paolo Lucci on this second round of the FIM Bajas World Cup, but the Italian rider withdrew on Friday because of an injury he had sustained on the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
Second overall after Friday’s stages, Australian rider Martin Chalmers retired on the final morning.
Mohammed Al-Rahmani climbed to fifth place at the expense of Canadian Jonathan Finn, who finished sixth. Mohammed Al-Balooshi, the leader of the championship after the first round in Saudi Arabia, was seventh at the finish while his brother, Sultan, retired after problems on Friday.

Quad winner Arnoud Dom was the big beneficiary after the retirements of Haitham Al-Tuwaijri and Abdulaziz Al-Ahli on the final stage. Mansoor Al-Suwaidi finished second and Hani Al-Noumesi climbed on to the third step of the podium.

Mirjam Pol won the Women's category, ahead of Poland's Joanna Modrzewska (KTM Duust) and Kuwait's Sarah Khuraibet (KTM Duust). Dabrowski stormed to Junior success, ahead of Finn (Honda) and Alex McInnes (Husqvarna).

The Veteran’s category was won by Houlihan (Husqvarna) from Cesare Zacchetti (KTM) and the Norwegian Ole Floene (KTM Duust).

The next round of the FIM Bajas World Cup is the Baja TT Dehesa Extremadura that takes place in Spain from April 14-16.

***
2023 Qatar International Baja - positions after stage 3 :
FIM – Bikes
1. Konrad Dabrowski (POL) KTM 450 Rally 7hr 22min 09.3sec
2. Robert Wallace (GBR) KTM 450 RFR +38.04.8
3. Mirjam Pol (NLD) KTM +1.21.08.8
4. Andrew Houlihan (AUS) Husqvarna FR +1.22.15.2
5. Marwan Al-Rahmani (ARE) KTM 450 Rally +1.23.58.3
6. Jonathan Finn (CAN) Honda CRF 450 RL +1.25.38.2
7. Mohammed Al-Balooshi (ARE) KTM 450 Rally Replica +1.42.15.5
8. Cesare Zacchetti (ITA) KTM EXC 350F +1.44.00.2
9. Abdullah Al-Shatti (KWT) Husqvarna 450 Rally +1.47.58.9
10. Alex McInnes (GBR) Husqvarna FE450 +1.48.46.7
11. Ola Floene (NOR) KTM 450 Rally +1.50.45.2
12. Abdullah Lanjawi (ARE) Husqvarna FE450 +1.51.00.6
13. Mishal Al-Ghuneim (SAU) KTM 450 Rally +1.54.50.8
14. Simon Marcic (SVN) Husqvarna 450 Rally Replica +1.55.33.5
15. Oran O’Kelly (IRL) KTM 450 Rally +2.09.59.9
16. Ehab Al-Hakeem (LBN) Yamaha WR 450F +2.49.59.0

FIM – Quads
1. Arnoud Dom (BEL) Suzuki LTR 450 10hr 46min 34.8sec
2. Mansoor Al-Suwaidi (ARE) Yamaha YFZ 450R +5.54.9
3. Hani Al-Noumesi (SAU) Yamaha Raptor 700 +5:22:03.6

Source FIM
Photos: Rallyzone

Kuwait’s Meshari Al-Thefiri and Frenchman Jeremie Warnia win T3 and T4 sections

Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel clinched victory in the car category in their Toyota GR DKR Hilux, while Polish KTM rider Konrad Dabrowski stayed clear of late trouble to defend his motorcycle title at the end of a punishing Qatar International Baja on Saturda
Al-Attiyah controlled proceedings through the demanding last stage to take the day’s win by 10min 18sec from Chinese rival Guoyu Zhang and that was sufficient for the Qatari to finish 16min 21.6sec ahead of Overdrive Racing team-mates, Denis Krotov and Konstantin Zhiltsov, in their Toyota Hilux. Zhang and his Spanish co-driver Oriol Mena rounded off the podium places in their Baic ORC BJ40,

Al-Attiyah said: “It was a good Baja. The first day I had a small margin and the second day I pushed a lot. I thank Jean-Marc (Fortin) from Overdrive Racing for bringing me a new car and thanks to Qatar Airways for flying this car over very swiftly so that I was able to compete here. I am very glad to win here again on my home race. I always want to compete in every international event in Qatar and it’s great to bounce back with a win after my big crash in Abu Dhabi.”

Runner-up Krotov added: “After 35km, I had to stop and change the tyres. After that we lost a little power and didn’t have a big speed. One turbo was not working. But the race was good and I enjoyed the stages.”

Competitors tackled 224.96km on the final day and the route was split into four sections of 33.73km, 28.51km, 43.23km and 113.20km by three non-competitive transfer zones.

Overdrive Racing’s Juan Cruz Yacopini and Daniel Oliveras moved up to fourth overall on the final stage in the third of four Toyotas.

The experienced Meshari Al-Thefiri began the day second in T3 behind his usual co-driver Nasser Al-Kuwari and the Kuwaiti delivered a solid stage performance to set the fastest time and sneak through to win the FIA T3 category for lightweight prototype machines on his first race with a new MCE-5 T3M and Oriol Vidal looking after the navigation. Al-Thefiri also finished fifth overall.

He said: “We managed to finish. It’s so difficult with the road book to know if you are out of the route. It is not easy. The car was very good. We caught Nasser (Al-Kuwari) about 20km from the start, so I managed my pace then and I knew what my advantage was. I am very happy that this is the first win for the MCE-5. Hard luck to Nasser.”

With Nasser Al-Kuwari and French co-driver François Cazalet dropping precious minutes on the stage with the lack of brakes and puncturs, that opened the door for the Qatari’s brother Abdulaziz to snatch second place in the category in his QMMF Rally Team Can-Am. On his debut in this type of motor sport, the former winner of the Qatar International Rally also finished in an excellent sixth in the general classification. Nasser came home in seventh and third in T3.

“From the first 20km, we had one flat tyre and we changed it,” said Nasser Al-Kuwari. “Then we catch Meshari and we had another flat tyre. We changed it. We catch him again and try to pass him and then we had a third one. Then we had no chance to win and we just tried to get the car to the finish. We also had brake issues. But I am happy with my performance.”

Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari said: “Very happy to finish second. I would love to have won T3 but it is not easy after the delay with the puncture on the first day. Unlucky for Nasser to come with the third puncture. I took it safely. I wanted to do all the mileage. I want to transfer to this kind of rallies. I prefer this type of rallies. You don’t have to drive every week.”

The French crew of Jeremie Warnia and Loic Minaudier managed to overhaul Brazil’s Cristiano de Sousa Batista and Portuguese co-driver Fausto Moto to secure a narrow victory in the FIA T4 category in their Polaris RXR 1000 R. They finished eighth overall and beat their Can-Am rivals by 2min 10sec on the final day to secure a winning margin of just 30.3 seconds.
Seventeen minutes of time penalties for missing route waypoints had pushed Pau Navarro down the T4 rankings after the third stage in his FN Speed Team Can-Am. He climbed back to third on the final day.
Saudi Arabia’s Khalid Al-Feraihi and French co-driver Sébastien Delaunay boosted their FIA Middle East Baja Cup title aspirations with valuable points for finishing 11th overall in their Nissan Patrol behind the 10th-placed Ronan Chabot in his Overdrive Toyota.
Krzysztof Holowczyc (Mini JCR Rally Plus) and Ahmed Al-Shegawi (Can-Am) retired on Friday after their mechanical issues.

Dabrowski retains motorcycle title

Konrad Dabrowski retained his motorcycle title in Qatar with a polished performance that saw his win every stage on his KTM. The Pole won Saturday’s last stage by 6min 49sec to record a winning margin over Great Britain’s Robert Wallace of 31min 04.8sec. He also claimed the honours of finishing as the first FIM Junior.

Dabrowski said: “Qatar is very lucky for us. A second win here in a row. I like to come here because it is great experience and I can improve my navigation and my riding. I was sick today on the stage after spending a night in the air conditioning. It was so difficult just to ride the bike on the second part of the stage. I am very tired but happy to win this race. I was super tired when I finished but it’s a great feeling to win.”

With Martin Chalmers dropped out of contention on the final morning, the battle for the final place on the podium swung in favour of the Dutch female racer Mirjam Pol. The KTM rider climbed from eighth to third to finish as the top Women. She edged out Andrew Houlihan for the last podium place by just 66.4 seconds, although the Australian had the consolation of winning the Veterans’ class and finishing a fine fourth.

A delighted Pol said: “When you start eighth overall and you finish third it is a big surprise. I had all the route waypoints and when I arrived I only saw two lines and that’s when I realised I had achieved a very good result.”

Emirati Mohammed Al-Ramani climbed to fifth at the expense of sixth-place Canadian Jonathan Finn. Mohammed Al-Balooshi was the championship leader after the opening round in Saudi Arabia and the Emirati reached the finish in eighth.

Several riders were handed time back overnight by FIM officials for delays on Friday helping at the scene of other competitors’ accidents. Oran O’Kelly received a credit of 53 minutes and Alex McInnes and Simon Marcic were also handed time back. McInnes went on to finish 10th overall after setting the second quickest time behind Dabrowski on the final stage. Marcic came home in third place on the day and finished 14th.

Emirati Sultan Al-Balooshi did not restart after his problems on Friday. Arnoud Dom was the unofficial winner of the quad category after Haitham Al-Tuwaijri and Abdulaziz Al-Ahli failed to finish. Mansoor Al-Suwaidi finished second

2023 Qatar International Baja – Positions after stage 4 (unofficial @ 15.45hrs):
FIA - Cars (Top 5 only)
1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Mathieu Baumel (AND) Toyota GR DKR Hilux 4hr 51min 49.7sec*
2. Denis Krotov (KGZ)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (ISR) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 5hr 08min 11.3sec*
3. Guoyu Zhang (CHN)/Oriol Mena (ESP) Baic ORC BJ40 5hr 11min 00.6sec*
4. Juan Cruz Yacopini (ARG)/Daniel Oliveras (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 5hr 23min 50.9sec*
5. Meshari Al-Thefiri (KWT)/Oriol Vidal (ESP) MCE-5 T3M (T3) 5hr 30min 32.4sec
T1 unless stated
*denotes registered for FIA World Cup
+ denotes registered for FIA Middle East Cup

2023 Qatar International Baja - positions after stage 3 (unofficial):
FIM – Bikes (top 5 only)
1. Konrad Dabrowski (POL) KTM 450 Rally 7hr 22min 09.3sec
2. Robert Wallace (GBR) KTM 450 RFR 7hr 53min 14.1sec
3. Mirjam Pol (NLD) KTM 8hr 43min 18.1sec
4. Andrew Houlihan (AUS) Husqvarna FR 8hr 44min 24.5sec
5. Marwan Al-Rahmani (ARE) KTM 450 Rally 8hr 46min 07.6sec

FIM – Quads
1. Arnoud Dom (BEL) Suzuki LTR 450 10hr 36min 34.8sec
2. Mansoor Al-Suwaidi (ARE) Yamaha YFZ 450R 10hr 50min 29.7sec
3. Hani Al-Noumesi (SAU) Yamaha Raptor 700 13hr 07min 17.6sec

Source Qatar International Baja / QMMF

Qatari Yamaha driver Ahmed Al Kuwari had an impressive performance in the 2023 Qatar International Baja. Despite facing some technical issues and navigation challenges, as well as the health problems of his Italian co-driver Manuel Lucchese, he won his home race in the T4 category of the FIA Middle East Cup for Cross-Country Bajas. In the overall classification of the series, he finished second, while being the fourth-best T4 and 15th overall in the World Cup classification.

The 2023 Qatar International Baja was special for Ahmed Al Kuwari not only because it is his home event but also because this was the first time he was competing in his own Yamaha, prepared by Italy's Quaddy Racing team.

In the prologue section, Al Kuwari finished in fourth place, only eight seconds behind the winner. Though he lost a few seconds here and there, he remained optimistic for the rest of the race.

The crew encountered some technical issues with the co-driver's Stella in the two specials the next day, but they were able to continue with Al Kuwari driving on his co-driver's notes. He decided to take a cautious approach to avoid getting lost, but was overall pleased with the stage.

Saturday's final special stage proved to be a successful finish for Al Kuwari, as he completed all stages unlike the previous year when he had to cut the race short. He attributed his success to his new Yamaha, built with assistance from Quaddy Racing under the supervision of Angelo Montico, and the perseverance of his co-driver, Manuel Lucchese, who was not feeling well throughout the race.

In the end, Al Kuwari finished fourth in the T4 category and 15th overall in the ranking, making him the best T4 and runner-up overall in the Middle East Cup.

“We have arrived at the final podium of Qatar International Baja 2023. It was a nice race this year, we did all the stages unlike last year when we had to cut the race short. There are a lot of competitors and a very competitive field. I enjoyed it a lot this year, probably more than any other year because I was racing with my own personal car which was built with assistance from Quaddy Racing, Mr Angelo Montico. I have to thank my co-driver, Manuel Lucchese, who has not been feeling well the whole weekend and yet he persevered and fought with the sickness and I’m more than happy and more than proud of his performance, it was amazing from him. The result is fourth in T4 and 15th in the overall ranking, best T4 in the Middle East Cup. That makes me happy. And second overall in the Middle East Cup. So, these are quite nice results and maybe we continue the Middle East Cup, who knows,”
Ahmed Al Kuwari said at the finish.

Text: Rita Kónya
Interview: Sveta Amelichkina
Photos: Rally Zone