His Excellency Sheikh Sultan Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, Advisor to the UAE President flagged off the competitors at the ceremonial start of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge powered by Nissan at Yas Marina Circuit tonight.
The event forms the second round of the 2019 FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies for cars and buggies and the opening round of this year’s FIM Cross Country Rallies World Championship for bikes and quads.
Sheikh Sultan was joined by Al Tareq Al Ameri, CEO of Yas Marina Circuit and Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President of the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE, the rally organisers.
Taking place under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Ruler’s Representative in Al Dafrah Region, the rally has a starting line-up of 34 cars and buggies and 33 bikes and quads.
Attached are a selection of images of the ceremonial start with the captions below:
1. Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi and co-driver Dirk Von Zitzewitz
2. Russia’s Vladimir Vasilyev with co-driver Konstantin Zhiltsov
3. UAE-based rider, Sam Sunderland
4. Emirati rider and UAE’s reigning FIM World Champion, Mohammed Al Balooshi