Rally driver Nasser al-Attiyah has prepared for the Dakar Rally’s second edition in Saudi Arabia with a strict training regimen to build muscle adapted to COVID-19 restrictions.
Staged in Africa between 1979 and 2007, the world’s most famous rally shifted to the mountainous terrain of South America between 2009 and 2019.
Al-Attiyah won the reincarnated race in 2011, 2015 and 2019.
Photo: AFP
The rally’s transfer to Saudi Arabia last year returned 50-year-old al-Attiyah to the Persian Gulf desert environment that he knew best, having been born in Doha.
“I adopted a different physical program which concentrated on building muscle,” he said ahead of the competition, which got underway yesterday and lasts until Jan. 16.
Along with his French codriver Mathieu Baumel, “we trained according to the countries holding Dakar,” he said.
“I have a simulator at home and a sports room, which allows me to stay in the rallying atmosphere,” al-Attiyah said.
Behind the wheel of his Toyota, al-Attiyah came second at Dakar 2020, the first edition of the race staged on the Arabian Peninsula, behind Spain’s Carlos Sainz (Mini) and ahead of Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel (Mini).
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