Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah was crowned winner of the Qatar International Rally for the 16th time in February, adding another title to his stunning record.

Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah has secured his fifth Baja Spain Aragon title in round four of the 2022 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas, adding to his previous victories in 2008, 2016, 2017 and 2021.

Second and third places were won by Yazeed Al Rajhi and Lucas Moraes, respectively, after they, alongside their Qatari counterpart put up breathtaking performances.

The Qatari racer successfully completed the race in Teruel with a lead of 3 minutes, 2 seconds.

 “We finish and I am quite happy to win here for the fifth time. It was a good win this year. Thanks to the organisation for making an amazing job. It was not easy to win. We work hard. The road was not easy and the level what we did here was very high. The new car, T1+, we are working very hard. This was the first time we run here in Europe,” said Al-Attiyya.

“We need to test more and more now that the team has decided to do the whole championship. The next race for us is Poland, but we intend to be ready for next Dakar.”

In their Overdrive Racing Toyota, Al-Rajhi and co-driver Michael Orr won the last stage and collected significant points for second place, keeping them solidly in contention for the FIA Bajas Drivers’ title.

Brazil’s Lucas Moreas and Kaique Bentivoglio performed well together despite having less experience than their more established opponents. On his route to the last podium spot, Moreas set two second-fastest speeds, capping off a fantastic weekend for Overdrive Racing.

Al-Rajhi took the early lead from Al-Attiyah, but the Qatari quickly overtook the Saudi, followed him to the finish line, and snatched a lead of 1 minute, 34.9 seconds with the fastest time of 2 hours, 28 minutes, and 34.5 seconds.

While Yacopini lost more than two hours due to problems with his fuel pump and was given a stage maximum time penalty, Moraes and Van Loon stopped the clocks in third and seventh, respectively.

On Saturday, crews faced two challenging selective portions. The action began with a timed stage of 180.29 km, which was divided into parts of 84.89 km and 95.4 km by a neutralisation zone.

The Qatari rally driver and sport shooter was the 2006 Production World Rally Champion, 2014 and 2015 WRC-2 champion. He’s also a 16 time Middle East Rally Champion and a quadruple Dakar Rally winner.