Doha: Qatar ace rally driver Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah – winner of the Dakar Rally in 2011 – will aim for a second Dakar title in a Toyota, it was revealed here yesterday.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the function organised by the Ooredoo Nasser said: “I have been with Mini, a team that has won the Dakar. But Toyota has never won it. I want to become the first driver to win the Dakar for Toyota. That is the main reason why I came to Toyota.”
“Toyota have been asking me for a long time but I was tied down to a different team. Now I feel it is the right time to switch to a Japanese brand because Toyota have a strong car,” he added.
Yesterday Ooredoo celebrated the success of Nasser sporting achievements so far in 2014 in a range of competitions and events.
The rally driver, who is a also an ace shooter and won the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics, was handed a new high performance sports car by Ooredoo at a party hosted at Ooredoo’s headquarters. Ooredoo chairman Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani handed over a Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet car to Nasser as part of the felicitation.
“Not only is Nasser Al Attiyah a positive role model and great brand ambassador for Ooredoo, but he’s helping put Qatar on the map for sport. We wanted to thank him for his hard work, and for the inspiration he provides for the next generation of champions,” the Oordeeo chairman said.
Ooredoo signed a sponsorship agreement with Nasser in December 2013 for all of his sporting endeavours this year, including motor racing, power boat racing and shooting.
Nasser had a roller coaster start this year winning first place in the Portuguese and Argentina rallies for the World Rally Championship C2 category and first place in Qatar, Kuwait, and Jordan in the Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), besides a podium place at the Dakar Rally.
Naseer is confident of maintaining his lead in the MERC.
“We have won every race in the Middle East Rally Championship and we are leading in the standings. Winning the WRC2 title is the next step. It will be very hard but we will try to be clever and collect more points in the world championship.
“I think that will be enough for us to win WRC2. Everybody has had five races out of six while we did just three. But still we have enough races left,” Nasser said.
As part of Oordeeo’s promotion with its brand ambassador five lucky Ooredoo customers enjoyed an all-expense paid trip to Sardinia, Italy, as part of the #GoNasser Instagram competition which had over 200 entrants.
The winners, who answered three questions correctly on the Olympic medallist, were awarded a five-day trip to Italy to watch Nasser’s racing skills during the rally that took place between June 6 to 10.
The #GoNasser contest winners were also allowed to interact with Nasser at his car booth during the racing event and enjoy a dinner with the racing sportsman.
The Peninsula
