Just one week after the really fine results secured in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup is continued with the third round of the season, Qatar’s Sealine Rally (18th to 22nd April, 2016). Among the competitors: three MINI ALL4 Racing vehicles and the team’s buggy. In the second rally they jointly contest in the MINI ALL4 Racing, Yazeed Al-Rajhi (KSA) and Timo Gottschalk (GER) want to tie in with their success celebrated last week. Portuguese Ricardo Porém makes his MINI ALL4 Racing comeback, in Qatar, with the Russians Vladimir Vasilyev / Konstantin Zhiltsov being the third pairing to contest the event with the MINI ALL4 Racing. At the same time, Jutta Kleinschmidt (GER) once again will race the buggy.
Last week, the dunes of the ADDC offered Yazeed Al-Rajhi the opportunity to extensively familiarise himself with the MINI ALL4 Racing and now, he will have to race the vehicle on the rocky tracks in Qatar. By finishing second in Abu Dhabi the Saudi celebrated a successful switch to the MINI ALL4 Racing and he wants to tie in with this success, in the Sealine Rally. Meanwhile, Ricardo Porém already knows the MINI ALL4 Racing as he contested the 2014 Baja Portalegre with it. And he did not only win the event but also secured the Portuguese Off Road Championship title. Vladimir Vasilyev was Nasser Al-Attiyah’s toughest opponent in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge for quite a while until an accident in the penultimate stage forced him into retirement. Now, the Russian wants to again really go for it in Qatar.
Furthermore, Jutta Kleinschmidt also is going to contest the Sealine Rally. For the German, continuing the testing work with the two-wheel driven buggy represents the top priority. In Abu Dhabi, she succeeded in making progress in the set-up area.
Altogether, the competitors will have to complete five stages with a total mileage of 1968 kilometres, with the special-stage distance amounting to 1633 kilometres. On 18th April 2016, at the first day of the rally, the field will have to cover 230 kilometres and on the other days some 350 kilometres each. In the rally in Qatar, the competitors mainly will have to race on rocky roads but there also will be some sandy sections
