Al Attiyah ready for cross country rally title defence

Bengaluru/Doha, February 14: After a brief lull, Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah is ready to vroom again as he begins his 2018 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies title defence in the opening round in Russia which will start on Friday (February 16) in Russia.

The four-time champion will once again drive for the Overdrive Racing in a Toyota Hilux at the Baja Russia Northern Forest Rally, the only snow and ice round of the 11-leg series. The event takes place on February 16-18.

The ace Qatari clinched his fourth FIA World Cup title in Morocco last October before going on to finish second in the recent Dakar Rally.

The Moroccan success was the second successive series triumph for Overdrive Racing and Toyota and came after Al Attiyah and French navigator Matthieu Baumel won seven of the 11 rounds of the championship.

After driving the very latest specification Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa Team Hilux in South America last month, Al Attiyah reverts to a 2017-specification Toyota for his challenge for honours in the snowy wastelands of Karelia in north-western Russia.

Finally we got second place 🥈 and hard luck to my colleagues, friends. I would like to thank Peru 🇵🇪 Bolivia 🇧🇴 Argentina 🇦🇷 love you all ❤️ #DakarPeru2018 #DakarBolivia #DakarArgentina #Dakar2018 pic.twitter.com/5h5LTqXYrY

— Nasser Al Attiyah (@AlAttiyahN) January 21, 2018

He will be aiming to win the FIA World Cup for a fifth time and give Overdrive Racing a hat-trick of series titles. The Qatari will also be hoping to win this event for the first time.

Overdrive Racing's CEO Jean-Marc Fortin said: "It's always exciting to start a new FIA World Cup campaign and this event comes just three weeks or so after our successful Dakar Rally, where Toyotas filled two places on the podium and we also had two customer cars inside the top 10.

"We've made a strong start to the season and we need to keep that momentum going in Russia, where we will see a massive change in weather conditions from the 35-plus degrees we faced on many days in Dakar to temperatures that could be as low as -20°C on the stages in Karelia."

The start of this year's event will take place in the Ruskeala Mountain Park, located on the highway linking Russia with Finland.

Pre-Baja formalities will be held in the small town of Sortavala and precede the 17km Prologue stage on Friday.

Crews will then face two days of competition and four selective sections on snowy trails and forest tracks in the Suojarvi and Sortvala districts of the Republic of Karelia. The ceremonial finish will take place in the village of Vyartsilya on Sunday (February 18) afternoon.

(With Team Overdrive Racing inputs)