Dubai, UAE 26th June, 2010: Mohammed Ben Sulayem says the creation of a bigger and stronger FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup will help drive the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge to another level.
Starting next year, the Cross Country Rally World Cup and the International Cup for Cross-Country Bajas will be amalgamated into a single World Cup series in a move to boost top level international cross country rallying.
Desert Challenge founder Sulayem was a key member of the FIA planning team which brought the proposal to the table and he attended the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) meeting which rubber stamped it in Geneva on Wednesday.
“It was a logical move which will be good for cross country rallying overall,” said Sulayem, President of the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE and the first Arab elected to the WMSC. He is also the FIA’s Vice President for Sport.
“It creates a much stronger World Cup series. We can also look forward to welcoming some of the Baja teams to the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge for the first time, and this will take the event to another level in terms of the strength of the international entry and the exposure it will enjoy.”
Launched by Sulayem in 1991 and taking place next year from April 1-7, the Desert Challenge, sponsored by Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, is seen as the leading event in the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup. This year’s series also features rounds, in Tunisia, Portugal and Egypt.
In the International Cup for Cross Country Bajas, the much shorter individual rounds are staged over one or two days, with a maximum length of 1200 km.
To score points in the revamped World Cup series from next year, teams must compete in at least one Baja and at least one Cross Country event.
While the scale of points awarded in both types of events will be the same – 25pts for a win down to 1pt for 10th place - in order to ensure fairness, points scored in Cross Country rallies will be doubled.
Russian driver Leonid Novitsky, who won the Desert Challenge in March, leads the 2010 World Cup for Cross Country Rallies with just the Pharaohs Rally remaining in October.
At the half way point in this year’s Bajas series, with events to follow in Spain, Hungary and Portugal, another Russian, Bogdan Novitsky, leads by a single point from Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi.