DOHA: Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah yesterday sealed the WRC crown, just days after clinching the FIA Middle East Championship title for the 11th time.
Al Attiyah finished the penultimate rally of the season - Rally Catalunya - in third spot to claim the crown for the second time in his glittering career.
The 45-year-old needed to be on the podium to secure his crown. After starting the day’s proceedings in fourth place, Al Attiyah made the most of Eric Camilli retirement yesterday.
After main rival Esapekka Lappi crashed out on Saturday, all Al Attiyah and his French co-driver Matthieu Baumel, had to do was nail a podium spot which he did after Camilli retired yesterday.
This year Al Attiyah has won the Dakar Rally, the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup and the FIA Middle East Rally Championship.
The most popular Qatari sports star scored victories in Mexico, Portugal and Australia.
And despite dropping points in Poland, Al Attiyah has nailed his win behind dominant Swede Pontus Tidemand and Czech driver Jan Kopecky.
The difference between Al-Attiyah and Esapekka Lappi is now 24 points, but both drivers have now contested their seventh rally of the season, which is the maximum amount each driver can take part in.
Yuriy Protasov, still eligible to race in Rally Wales, finished fifth to be only 22 points behind the leader, but the dropped score system will see him lose his worst result, which currently stands at fifth place.
As such, he cannot make up more than 15 points on Al-Attiyah. Two days ago, it was announced Al Attiyah will join the World Touring Car Championship (WTTC) grid for his home event in Qatar next month.
Al Attiyah will drive a third Campos Racing Chevrolet Cruze in the Losail races, which will conclude the 2015 WTCC season on the night of November 29.
“It will be real honour for me to represent my country, Qatar, when it hosts the World Touring Car Championship for the first time,” said Al Attiyah.
“I was proud when I learned the WTCC would be coming to Qatar but I’m even more proud to say that I will be part of the action. “I will have plenty to learn and get used to because I have not done much circuit racing and never in a front-wheel-drive car.”
Qatar will be the third time this year that Campos’s third Chevrolet has been fielded for a local guest. Thai touring car racer Tin Sritrai will drive the car in next weekend’s WTCC round at Buriram, while Slovakian European Touring Car Cup frontrunner Mat’o Homola appeared in it at the Slovakia Ring in June.
The Peninsula