Tony Lewis

DUBAI — Qatar’s defending champion, Nasser Al-Attiyah, had a scare in the final countdown to the Dubai International Rally Wednesday when the car he hopes to drive to another Middle East Championship title caught fire.



Mechanics quickly extinguished the flames after the fire broke out as a result of a battery fault in the rear of Al-Attiyah’s Ford Fiesta RRC.



While they managed to prevent serious damage to the car, the fire burnt out the main part of the electrical wiring, which will be replaced when spare parts arrive overnight from the UK.



The incident happened while the car was being prepared for action at the Rally HQs, at Dubai Men’s College, in the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) campus, Academic City.



Al-Attiyah, chasing his sixth consecutive victory in the Dubai International Rally and an eighth Middle East title, will be the first of the competitors to be flagged away from the ceremonial start Thursday evening by Sheikh Majid Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, and the rally’s patron.