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When Al Attiyah took Lorenzo for dune bashing in Qatar!

Al Attiyah, who was crowned Dakar Rally champion in January for the third time, took Lorenzo out onto the Qatar dunes in his self-made buggy and produced some spectacular wheelies.

Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and Jorge Lorenzo

Bengaluru, March 20: Three-time Dakar Rally winner Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and three-time MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo went on a dune bashing adventure recently, which has gone viral on social media.

The ace Qatari driver had the Spaniard as his co-driver in the sand dunes ahead of the recent FIM MotoGP World Championship season opener at the Losail International circuit, which Andrea Dovizioso won, edging Marc Marquez in a last-lap thriller.

Al Attiyah, who was crowned Dakar Rally champion in January for the third time, took Lorenzo out onto the Qatar dunes in his self-made buggy and produced some stunning wheelies.

Speaking about his time in the buggy, Lorenzo, who could manage only a 13th-place finish in the Qatar MotoGP said,

Funny and scary!

Funny and scary!

"It was funny, scary and it gave me a lot of curiosity to ask him about the car, the rally and the preparation with such warm temperatures in the races.

"We had some great hours and my heart was pumping a lot when he was wheeling the car. I thought it wasn't possible to do wheelies in the car!," Lorenzo said.

Different hats

Different hats

Al Attiyah is known to be a man who wears different hats. In addition to being a top-class rally driver, he is also an accomplished skeet shooter, having won bronze in the 2012 London Olympics.

He had just registered a record-breaking 14th victory in the Qatar Rally for his 70th Middle East Rally Championship win in the 211-event history of the opening round of the FIA series.

Car wheelie!

Car wheelie!

The ace Qatari driver found it funny that a MotoGP rider could be so impressed with a car pulling a wheelie.

"It's funny to see how an athlete who rides at 340 km/h wearing only thin leathers can be so impressed when we wheelied," Al Attiyah said.

Tandem ride

Tandem ride

Al Attiyah was however quick to recollect a tandem ride he did with Lorenzo in a two-wheeler at the MotoGP circuit in Losail a couple of years ago.

"This reminds me of when I once did a tandem ride around the Losail International Circuit on a two-seater MotoGP and I got just as out of my comfort zone as Jorge did now," added Al Attiyah.

(With Red Bull Media inputs)

Story first published: Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 14:11 [IST]
Other articles published on Mar 20, 2019