Khalid Al Qassimi - Ford

Career highlights:

2004 Middle East Rally Champion

Career summary:

Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi's first contact with rallying came early in his life when he competed in a local rally aboard a Land Rover Discovery. His rally career started at full pace in 2002 when he embarked on a programme in the Middle East Rally Championship, winning the FIA MERC Group N Cup and also the United Arab Emirates Rally Championship that same season. Khalid returned to competition in 2004 to claim the outright MERC title. The same year he made his debut in the World Rally Championship, finishing fourth in the Group N category in Greece.

During the following two seasons he finished second and third in the MERC, while also competing in several rounds of the WRC in a Group N car including driving in the Quasys P-WRC team in Cyprus in 2006 and finishing 3rd in this championship category. 2007 started with high hopes of a full WCR programme with MMSP in Mitsubishi Lancer World Rally Cars but this project fell through, but was resurrected with Ford in the second half of the season. He drove for entry and was classified as a finisher each time.

In 2008 he will contest a 10-round programme with the re-named BP-Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team.