Sheikh Khalid bin Faisal bin Sultan Al Qassimi ( ar, الشيخ خالد بن فيصل بن سلطان القاسمي) is a

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sport ...

driver from the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

, and a member of the royal house of

Al Qasimi Al Qasimi ( ar, القواسم, spelled sometimes as Al Qassimi or Al Qassemi; plural: Al Qawasem ar, القواسم and, archaically, Joasmee) is an Arab dynasty in the Persian Gulf that rules Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, today forming two of ...

who rule the Emirates of

Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital ...

and

Ras Al Khaimah Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) ( ar, رَأْس ٱلْخَيْمَة, historically Julfar) is the largest city and capital of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. It is the sixth-largest city in UAE after Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Al Ain ...

, and has competed in the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

and

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal ...

Family

Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi is the son of Sheikh Faisal bin Sultan Al Qassimi and Sheikha Moza bint Hilal Al Nahyan.

Career

Rally Finland 2010 - shakedown - Khalid Al Qassimi 1

Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi won the FIA Middle East Cup for Drivers of Production Cars in 2002 and the FIA Middle East Rally Championship in 2004. At the half way stage of the

2007 World Rally Championship season The 2007 World Rally Championship was the 35th season in the FIA World Rally Championship. The season began on 19 January, with the Monte Carlo Rally and ended on 2 December, with the Wales Rally GB. Citroën's Sébastien Loeb won his fourth c ...

, a joint venture between the

BP Ford World Rally Team The Ford World Rally Team, also known as the ''Ford Motor Co. Team'' prior to 2005, is Ford Motor Company's full factory World Rally Championship team. In its current form, it has been a competitor since the 1997 season, when Ford Motor Compa ...

and the Abu Dhabi Tourism Board was announced to bring a third official Focus RS WRC to the team's

campaign. With heavy sponsorship from the latter, Khalid was given a chance to drive alongside

Mikko Hirvonen Mikko Hirvonen (born 31 July 1980) is a Finnish former rally driver, and a current Rally-Raid driver, who drove in the World Rally Championship. He placed third in the drivers' championship and helped Ford to the manufacturers' title in both 2 ...

and

Jari-Matti Latvala Jari-Matti Latvala (born 3 April 1985) is a Finnish rally driver who has competed in the World Rally Championship (WRC). His co-driver for most of his career was Miikka Anttila, who co-drove for Latvala between the 2003 Rallye Deutschland and 2019 ...

in the extra car. Co-driven by Nicky Beech, Khalid Al Qassimi contested

Rally Finland Rally Finland (formerly known as the Neste Rally Finland, Neste Oil Rally Finland, 1000 Lakes Rally and Rally of the Thousand Lakes; fi, Suomen ralli, sv, Finska rallyt) is a rally competition in the Finnish Lakeland in Central Finland. The ra ...

Rallye Deutschland The ADAC Rallye Deutschland is a rally event held in Germany. The event was first held in 1982 and originally hosted by e.g. Frankfurt, Mainz and Koblenz. In 2000, the rally was relocated to the region around Trier. Previously part of the Europ ...

Rally Catalunya The Rally Catalunya (formerly: Rallye Catalunya) is a rally competition held in Catalonia region of Spain, on the World Rally Championship schedule. Now held on the wide, smooth and sweeping asphalt roads around the town of Salou, Costa Daura ...

and

Rally Ireland Rally Ireland was added to the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calendar in 2007. It was not part of the 2008 schedule, but returned as the First round of the championship in 2009. The north–south event is the largest sporting occasion o ...

. On his debut in Rally Finland, al-Qassimi drove consistently to finish in 16th place overall. For the 2008 WRC season, he continued with BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRT, contesting ten events, co-driven by Michael Orr. His best result was ninth at the

Jordan Rally The Jordan Rally ( ar, رالي الأردن) is a rallying competition held in Jordan. It was a new addition to the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calendar for the 2008 season, and the first occurrence of a WRC event in the Middle East. The ...

. For 2009, Khalid Al Qassimi and co-driver Michael Orr remain with the BP Ford World Rally Team. His season began with a first world championship point by finishing in eighth place on the

; he repeated this feat in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. At the 2011 Rally Australia, he finished with a career-best 5th place. After a sabbatical year, he returned to the World Rally Championship in 2013, switching to an Abu Dhabi-sponsored

Citroën DS3 WRC The Citroën DS3 WRC is the World Rally Car built for the Citroën World Rally Team by Citroën Racing for use from the 2011 World Rally Championship season. It is based upon the Citroën DS3 road car, and replaced the highly successful Citroën ...

, claiming two ninth places and a tenth. In 2014 he took tenth place at Sardinia. In 2015 he finished sixth at the Rally Argentina and tenth at Sardinia. He also entered the Middle East Rally Championship with a Citroën DS3 RRC winning at Dubai and finishing second at Qatar and Kuwait. In 2016, he finished sixth at the

Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge is an international rally raid race held in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates since 1991. The race is points scoring for the World Rally-Raid Championship and is organized by the Emirates Motorspo ...

. Al Qassimi entered the

2017 Dakar Rally The 2017 Dakar Rally was the 39th edition of the event and the ninth successive year that the event was held in South America. The event started in Asunción, Paraguay on January 2, then ran through Argentina and Bolivia, before returning to Bueno ...

with a customer Peugeot 2008 DKR.

Titles

WRC results

PWRC results

References

External links

al-Qassimi at eWRC-results.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Qassimi, Khalid Al 1972 births Living people Emirati rally drivers World Rally Championship drivers Khalid Al Qassimi Dakar Rally drivers Citroën Racing drivers