Qatar International Baja winners Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and French navigator Max Delfino pose with Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation President Abdulrahman Al-Mannai, Executive Director Amro Al-Hamad and board member Abdulrazaq Al-Kuwari.
Doha, Qatar: Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his French navigator Max Delfino confirmed their respective FIA Middle East Baja Cup titles with outright victory in the 2026 Qatar International Baja across the southern deserts yesterday.
Al-Attiyah headed into the final day aiming to defend a lead of 6min 15.3sec over the FIA World Baja Cup title-chasing Francisco Barreto and his navigator Paulo Fiúza. The Optimus MD Rallye driver made a strong start and increased his virtual lead through the first checkpoints.
There was no bad luck or skeletons lurking in the cupboard for Halloween and Al-Attiyah duly secured a record 13th victory on his home off-road event since 2004 and a first since 2023 with a winning margin of 29min 08.7sec. He also confirmed the regional Baja title for the first time. Barreto lost over 18 minutes on the final section with navigational delays but stayed in second place.
Al-Attiyah said: “A lucky number for today, 13. This year it was completely different. We had the longest stages on a Baja. It looked like a Dakar cross-country stage yesterday and we had 200km today over completely different terrain. We had to manage the rear tyres today, so as not to destroy them, like yesterday. We did a good job and we won the race. Two Middle East championships this year. It’s the first time I compete in this Baja Cup. Before, I competed in the World Cup.
Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Max Delfino in action in their MD Optimus Rallye.
“Now, Dubai next week and we just received information that he have Jeddah the week after because I am also leading the Saudi Championship. Then, we have Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge at the end of this month.”
Konrad Dąbrowski wrote a little piece of motorcycling history by becoming the first rider to win the event on four occasions (2022, 2023, 2025 and 2026). He surpassed the three cross-country victories achieved by Spain’s Marc Coma in 2012, 2013 and 2015. The Pole led from the Prologue and earned a winning margin of 5min 12sec. Emirati Khalifa Al-Bastaki was victorious in the quad category on his Yamaha.
Barreto’s consolation for finishing a distant second in the car category was the outright lead in the FIA World Baja Cup to take to the final round in the UAE next weekend. The SVR Toyota Hilux IMT Evo driver delivered a polished performance to finish 9min 28.8sec in front of the third-placed Challenger category-winning Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and Oriol Mena in their QMMF-backed Can-Am Challenger.
A strong run on the last day catapulted Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah and Stéphane Duplé into fourth overall in the second of the QMMF Challenger cars. The French father and daughter pairing of Lionel and Lucie Baud stayed clear of major issues and set the fourth quickest time on the second stage in their petrol-engined X-Raid Mini JCW Rally to earn fifth. Aliyyah Koloc’s good run on Friday had been overshadowed by time penalties and the UAE-based Red-Lined Revo GTR driver to succumbed to technical issues on the second stage. Her father Martin and his navigator Hugo Magalhães finished sixth.
Ahmed El-Shamy remains on course to finish as runner-up to Al-Attiyah in the Middle East Baja Cup’s Ultimate class and he came home in seventh with Leonard Cremer in a Century CR6.
Argentina-based Fernando Alvarez and Xavier Panseri maintained their push for SSV title success with eighth and a fistful of points for winning their category in a Can-Am Maverick R. The QMMF’s Nouef Al-Sowaidi finished ninth. Khalid Al-Jafla recovered strongly from overnight time penalties and picked up valuable FIA World Baja Cup championship points in 10th with his Toyota after a late penalty.
Ghanim Al-Attiyah’s international debut ended positively in 11th and South Africa’s Saood Variawa recovered from two batches of time penalties to finish 12th.
Challenger runner Hamed Al-Wahaibi’s chance of catching Mitchel van den Brink derailed when a front axle support bracket failed on the final stage after an accident over a crest.
There was a late retirement for Qatari Abdullah Al-Khelaifi (Yamaha) with mechanical issues and Ahmed Al-Kuwari was forced to withdraw after damaged sustained when he was hit from behind by Al-Jafla after 18.88km. Mohammed Al-Marri lost chunks of time in his Can-Am with mechanical issues but continued to finish 26th.
Newly-crowned Stock world champion Majed Al-Thunayyan celebrated his success but Qatar’s Abdulla Al-Rabban won the section for series-production cross-country machines in a Nissan Patrol for the third successive year.
Additional time penalties were added to several motorcycle riders before the restart. Jordan’s Abdullah Abu Aisheh incurred an additional eight minutes for being late at TC1A and Marcin Talaga lost his time card and was handed five minutes. Andrew Houlihan and Simon Marčič were among the non-starters.
Emirati Khalifa Al-Bastaki managed to hold on to his overnight lead to snatch victory in the quad section over fellow countryman Abdulaziz Ahli. Ahmed Al-Jaber had arrived in Qatar as the FIM quad championship leader but failed to start the final stage. Hani Al-Noumesi stopped to attend to an injured rider and was later handed time back to round off the quad podium ahead of Abdulaziz Al-Atawi All three FIA and FIM championships continue in the UAE next weekend at the Dubai International Baja.
2026 Qatar International Baja: Overall standings
Cars: Top 10
1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Max Delfino (FRA) Optimus MD Rallye 5hr 12min 54.1sec+
2. Francisco Barreto (POR)/Paulo Fiúza (POR) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo 5hr 42min 02.8sec*
3. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Oriol Mena (ESP) Can-Am Maverick R 5hr 51min 31.6sec*
4. Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Stéphane Duplé (FRA) Taurus T3 Max 5hr 58min 59.1sec+
5. Lionel Baud (FRA)/Lucie Baud (FRA) X-Raid Mini JCW 3.0d 6hr 00min 37.8sec*
6. Martin Koloc (CZE)/Hugo Magalhães (POR) Red-Lined Revo V8 6hr 08min 02.8sec
7. Ahmed El-Shami (UAE)/Leonard Cremer (RSA) Century CR6 6hr 10min 31.0sec+
8. Fernando Alvarez (ARG)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) Can-Am Maverick R 6hr 18min 41.5sec*
9. Nouef Al-Suwaidi (QAT)/Aisvydas Paliukenas (LTU) Taurus T3 Max 6hr 26min 28.0sec+
10. Khalid Al-Jafla (UAE)/Andrei Rudnitskiy (LTU) Toyota Hilux Evo 6hr 45min 10.6sec*
* Registered for FIA World Baja Cup
+ Registered for FIA Middle East Baja Cup
Motorcycles: Top 10
1. Konrad Dabrowski (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica 6hr 22min 05sec
2. Alex McInnes (GBR) KTM 450 RFR 6hr 27min 17sec
3. Romain Dumontier (FRA) KTM 450 Rally Factory 6hr 33min 37sec
4. Ethan Lane (GBR) KTM 450 Rally 6hr 52min 27sec
5. Toni Mulec (SLO) KTM 450 Rally Replica 7hr 14min 00sec
6. Michael Anderson (POR) KTM 450 RFR 7hr 22min 59sec
7. Robert Wallace (GBR) KTM 450 EXC 7hr 23min 09sec
8. Hans Dovland (NOR) Gas Gas RX 450 F 7hr 27min 34sec
9. Philip Horlemann (GER) KTM 450 Rally Replica 7hr 50min 24sec
10. Mohammed Al-Balooshi (UAE) KTM 450 RR 7hr 58min 54sec
Quads
1. Khalifa Al-Bastaki (UAE) Yamaha YFZ 450R 7hr 52min 06sec
2. Abdulaziz Ahli (UAE) Yamaha Raptor 700 8hr 36min 53sec
3. Hani Al-Noumesi (KSA) Yamaha 700 9hr 10min 47sec
4. Abdulaziz Al-Atawi (KSA) Yamaha Raptor 700 10hr 27min 57sec
