(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
The Peninsula
Doha: The Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) will host the third round of the FIM Bajas World Cup from April 8 to 10 next year, it was announced by a top QMMF official yesterday.
The FIM released the 2021 calendar with 10 events scheduled from February to October. The Qatar round will be staged after opening events in the UAE and Jordan.
In a major boost for motor sport fans in the country, QMMF successfully completed all of its stalled events from March and wrapped up the championships during the October-December window.
In November and December, QMMF hosted two rounds at the Qatar National Baja to close out the incomplete season from March this year when COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to sports events around the globe.
Earlier this month, the QMMF announced that it will host the opening round of the 2021 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) from January 28-30, 2021.
Amro Al Hamad
'Qatar is hosting one of the rounds of the FIM World Championships for motorbikes. It's going to be in April, just a couple of days before Ramadan. We got a confirmation from FIM yesterday, QMMF Executive Director Amro Al Hamad said yesterday
Al Hamad said he expects a good number of local entries for the World Cup, having seen a big number of participants at the Qatar National Baja.
'We are hosting the event after Jordan, so we expect a lot of competitors from the Middle East to compete in Qatar, Al Hamad said.
'There are also a lot of riders here in Doha, who will also participate. So this is a very good achievement for QMMF to host an international event for our home riders, the QMMF official said.
'We already had 30 riders from Qatar taking part in the Qatar National Baja, so I do believe, we will have at least 15 to 20 riders. There could be more entries as it's a bucket list event for riders to compete in the FIM Bajas World Cup. I can't give an exact number, but I am confident locally there will be a lot of riders taking part in the event, Al Hamad added.
The QMMF Executive Director said the World Cup, besides being an international exposure, will also give an idea of local riders' skill level.
'Will there be anyone from Qatar who is going to continue participating in the World championship? Maybe it's possible. We will find out that in the Qatar off-road championship. It's going to be like a training ground for good riders and we will see if they have the skills to compete in the rest of the World Cup, Al Hamad said.
The FIM Bajas World Cup will be held in a format in 2021, the FIM said in a statement. The hugely popular event takes place over a series of qualifying events as well as a final. Each event in the qualifying series has a scoring coefficient of 1, while the final has a scoring coefficient of 2.
The final is open to all competitors. In order to be included in the ranking of the FIM Bajas World Cup, competitors must have completed and scored points in at least one of the events of the qualifying series. Only these competitors will be eligible for the final ranking of the FIM Bajas World Cup.
The final ranking of the FIM Bajas World Cup will be established on the basis of the two best results of the qualifying series, added to the points awarded in the final. This is valid in all three categories (Motorbikes, Quads and SSV) and in all three classes (Women's, Junior and Veteran).
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