Al Attiyah ready for revised Russian Silk Way Rally

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Bengaluru/Doha, July 17: With a couple of disappointing results in the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country making it mathematically impossible for Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah to retain his title in 2018, the Qatari has decided to take part in Russia's Silk Way Rally which gets under way on Saturday (July 21).

The Overdrive Racing Team driver will team up with his French navigator Mathieu Baumel at the start of the first of seven special stages in Astrakhan.

Al Attiyah, who be seen behind the wheels of a Toyota Hilux, is targeting a first-ever win for the Japanese manufacturer at one of the world's most famous cross-country rallies, where former winners include double Dakar winners Carlos Sainz and Jean-Louis Schlesser and Frenchman Cyril Despres, a five-time Dakar winner on a motorcycle and the Silk Way winner for the last two years.

"I really enjoy the format of the longer cross-country rallies and the target is the outright win on stages that will be new and challenging," said the Red Bull-supported two-time Dakar winner, who finished as runner-up to Sainz in 2010 - his only podium finish at the Silk Way Rally thus far.

"Matthieu (Baumel) and I have set the target and I know we have the car that is more than capable of taking the win against strong opposition," Al Attiyah added.

Baumel shared Al Attiya's views: "We have not been able to test since Kazakhstan. We start the Silk Way Rally with some new technical components on the car and a new engine and we will test for one day before the race in Russia, close to Astrakhan. The race is important, but the most important is to have the car ready for the next Dakar.

"This race in Russia will be very interesting and challenging. The four days around Astrakhan will be a little bit difficult for navigation and driving on the small dunes with vegetation and a mix of fast and sandy tracks. It will not be easy and we will need to have a good strategy to make a gap on the first four days. Then we have three days going up to Moscow and we will need to look at the weather. We saw at the final of the World Cup how heavy the rain was! If we get a lot of mud it will be very difficult and I am sure we are preparing for a very difficult and challenging rally. Our only goal is the victory. We are ready!"

The Silk Way Rally ran for the first time between Kazan in Russia and Ashgabat in Turkmenistan in 2009 and was then based in Russia between 2010 and 2013, where it featured in the ASO's Dakar Series on three occasions.

Rally officials laid on a route between Moscow and Beijing - via Astana in Kazakhstan - in 2016 and last year's edition started in Moscow and finished in Xi'an, China.

Rally organisers were forced to modify the original route for 2018 that had seen the intended event start at Xi'an and run over a two-week period to finish in Moscow.

(With inputs from Overdrive Racing)