A massive row broke out yesterday after the FIA’s International Court of Appeal controversially stripped Abu Dhabi Racing driver Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi of his second Middle East Rally Championship title, which he secured after winning the Dubai International Rally last week.
A three-member panel ruled in favour of Nasser Al Attiyah’s protest appeal and handed the Dubai rally win and a 10th regional title to the Qatari.
It came to light yesterday that Nasser had filed a protest with the Dubai rally stewards claiming Sheikh Khalid had infringed on the rules by ‘cutting corners’ during his winning run on November 29.
However, the stewards rejected the protest following which the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) filed an appeal on behalf of Nasser with the FIA’s International Court of Appeal on December 2.
The three-member panel was presided over by Jan Stovicek (Czech Republic) and included Philippe Roberti de Winghe (Belgium) and Felipe Zeraik (Brazil).
This panel met at St Regis hotel in Doha on Thursday and overturned the Dubai rally stewards’ decision.
The court stated the following on the FIA’s website that it has:
– Decided to set aside the decision no1 of the Stewards of the 2014 Dubai International Rally;
– Declared that Abu Dhabi Racing Team’s car no2 [Sheikh Khalid] committed a breach of article 14.2 of the 2014 FIA Regional Rally Regulations;
– Decided to impose a penalty of 30 seconds on the Abu Dhabi Racing Team’s car no2. Sheikh Khalid had won the rally by a mere 0.3 seconds and this penalty means he has now finished 27 seconds behind Nasser and relegated to second place.
The overall victory margin too was very narrow, just one point, but the second place finish now means in the record books Sheikh Khalid will have finished the championship on 87 points against 100 for Nasser.
But the controversy does not end here.
What is now being questioned by many is the manner of and the place where the panel met and issued its decision.
The FIA’s annual general assembly is currently meeting at the St Regis hotel in Doha and Nasser is a Qatar citizen, hence questions of conflict of interest and impropriety are being raised in some quarters sympathetic to Sheikh Khalid’s cause, who incidentally flew to the Gulf state to collect his trophy.
With regards to taking the Dubai win and title away from Sheikh Khalid, the only option open before the Abu Dhabi Racing driver is launch an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Sheikh Khalid returned from Qatar late last night.
The fresh controversy comes on the back of an ongoing row over the World Motor Sport Council’s decision on December 3 to reject Abu Dhabi’s application to host a round of the regional series from 2015.
No reasons have been given for rejecting the application and it is understood that the Abu Dhabi Rally Organising Committee is currently considering the next course of action.
The FIA general assembly ended last night.
