Doha: Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) on Wednesday held a ceremony to recognise the achievement of Qatari racer Adel Hussein Abdulla in winning the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies.
The ceremony took place in Katara. Hussein originally came second in the unofficial standings to Saudi Arabia's Yasir Saeidan. However the Qatari racer and his team protested, saying that the Saudi's car allegedly did not match the FIA's standards in the Morocco rally. The protest was upheld, which meant the Saeidan lost his point for the rally in question. This was enough for Hussein to leapfrog him and win the title.
Saeidan lost 50 points out of the Morocco rally to end the season with 142 points. The sum was 14 points than Hussein's score. Although it is worth noting that the Qatari driver's points for the Morocco rally were also scrapped after Saeidan also protested the former's car.
President of QMMF Abdulrahman Al Mannai expressed his delight at the achievement of the Qatari racer, saying the win was a boost for Qatari sports. He stressed that Qatari racers have proven their excellences with Nasser bin Saleh Al Attiyah winning the T1 category of the same competition.
For his part, the driver said he was delighted to win the World Cup on his first try at the T2 category. He expressed his thanks to QMMF for their support and for the ceremony they held today to recognize his achievement. He added that the win made him even hungrier for success in the future.
