KARLSTAD, SWEDEN, Feb 9th, 2008: As Abu Dhabi embarks on its first full season as official marquee partner to back-to-back World Rally Championship manufacturers? champions, BP-Ford, the UAE capital backed outfit?s support is beginning to swell among rally?s global fanbase.
With BP-Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team?s Finnish duo of Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala already claiming their own wide-spread fans, the standing of the team?s third driver - Abu Dhabi?s Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi - is also on the up with rally enthusiasts. Currently making his snow debut in Rally Sweden - the only pure winter event in the FIA World Rally Championship calendar - the Emirati has won over fans with determined, gritty displays and an ability to adapt his driving style and pace notes to a multitude of terrains - most of which are far removed from anything found in Abu Dhabi, or the Middle East. Chanting Al Qassimi?s name alongside an entourage of compatriots, Italian rally fan, Felix Speroni - in Karlstard following Ford Stobart driver Gigi Galli - said: ?We love Gigi, but Khalid is our number two - he is very cool and stylish. It is great to see someone like him competing in the WRC. He has established himself as a driver that likes challenges and is always pushing, trying for more speed on surfaces that must be strange and new to him. ?It is good for the sport to have this enthusiastic Arab driver enter the WRC and make a strong impression. He is a great ambassador for Abu Dhabi.?Al Qassimi has been given his WRC opportunity as a result of Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority?s unique partnership with BP-Ford, and it seems the Emirati?s exploits - as well as newly named team and rebranded car - are justifying the Authority?s utilisation of rally and the WRC as a platform to internationally position the UAE capital as a world-class destination for tourism, business and leisure. Abu Dhabi?s rally involvement also extends to being the WRC?s Official Destination Partner - an association which sees the emirate?s unique destination credentials being communicated outside the realms of the BP-Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team. And along with Al Qassimi, it seems Abu Dhabi is attracting its own Swedish following. ?The Swedish rally is one of the best and we love the snow. I have never been to Abu Dhabi before and only heard of it because of the rally connection. It seems the Abu Dhabi people love rally and motorsport the same way Scandinavians do and if there is one day a WRC leg in Abu Dhabi, I?d be straight on a plane,? said Finn, Jano Hautilainen?Similarly to this weekend though, I wouldn?t be expecting too much snow!?Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2008.
