Al-Attiyah unsure on Sardinia IRC return

Nasser Al-Attiyah remains committed to the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, even though he is currently unsure whether or not he will be able to enter Rally d’Italia-Sardegna from 4-6 June.

Al-Attiyah made his IRC debut on Rally Argentina in March and had planned to tackle the island contest next month, round five of the 12-event series. However, he has recently returned to his former team, Autotek Motorsport, and will now drive a Ford Fiesta S2000 for the remainder of the year having competed in Argentina in a Škoda Fabia S2000.

“I will definitely do some more IRC rounds this season but, for now, we only have one car available,” said the Qatari driver. “Because we do the world championship rally in Portugal [this week] it will be difficult to do two rallies in the same car because the time is short. I would like to do Sardinia but it’s important to do it properly. We will know more in the next few days.”

Al-Attiyah started the 2010 season in an M-Sport Fiesta S2000, claiming victory on the Middle East championship Qatar International Rally in January, the same weekend Mikko Hirvonen was winning Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo, the opening round of the IRC, also in a Fiesta.

“The Fiesta and the Škoda are quite similar to drive so I don’t think it will be a problem coming back to the Fiesta,” said Al-Attiyah.