Al-Kuwari will make his WRC debut at Rally Spain

Hayden Paddon won't be the only one to do his WRC debut au Rally from Spain on October 24. M-Sport announced the arrival of Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC. The Qatari won in Mexico, Argentina and Australia in the WRC2 category and occupies first place in the Championship with 17 points ahead of Robert Kubica at the wheel of his Fiesta RRC which he will return to from November 14 to 17 for Wales Rally GB. “We have seen some truly impressive performances from Abdulaziz this year and the logical next step was for him to take the wheel of the Fiesta RS WRC”, comments Malcolm Wilson, director of M-Sport. “It will be a tough event with many very fast drivers in top class cars, but Abdulaziz and Killian (Duffy, his co-driver) are more than capable of achieving a good result. I am delighted that M-Sport has been able to offer this opportunity to the Seashore Qatar Rally Team and look forward to watching their progress. »

Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari is obviously delighted to have the chance to fight at the front at the Rally Spain. “The decision came after my victory in WRC2 in Argentina (on May 5). I received a call from the owner of Seashore Qatar Rally Team, Mr. Salim Al-Mhannadi, who assured me that I will have at least one event driving a Fiesta RS WRC this season as a reward for our good results. This car is much faster than the Fiesta RRC I'm used to so we'll need some time to get used to it. Our first objective is to complete all the stages and cross the finish line. A top ten would obviously be fantastic, and to be honest I really want to beat my best result which was tenth. That being said, we will be returning to RRC at Wales Rally GB as our season is really focused on WRC2 which we are currently running. We will have to wait and see what we get next year, but I am a very ambitious person and I will be ready as always if my sponsor decides to commit to a full WRC program. »