Bahrain : Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company “Mumtalakat”, the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Bahrain and Prodrive, the British motorsport and engineering showcased the Bahrain Raid Xtreme “BRX” Prodrive Hunter rally car in Bahrain.
The BRX Prodrove Hunter is a product of the partnership between Mumtalakat and Prodrive. From a base at Bahrain International Circuit, BRX has completely rebuilt Loeb’s Prodrive Hunter after creating Dakar history in Saudi as the first top team to complete the rally with cars running on next generation advanced sustainable fuel.
Khalid Al Rumaihi, Mumtalakat CEO said: “Our Partnership with Prodrive presents the opportunity to introduce to the Kingdom of Bahrain further high technology industries, which create employment, enhance local expertise, and raise the profile of Bahrain as a centre of technological excellence in the region.”
He added: “The drive behind our investment in Prodrive was beyond building a racing car and a team as in this occasion BRX has completely rebuilt Loeb’s Prodrive Hunter from a base at the Bahrain International Circuit which reflects Bahrain infrastructure for high technology sports and industries. The same car rebuilt in Bahrain will be used in all international races BRX team is joining which is something that makes us proud.”
Sebastien Loeb is targeting victory in next month’s Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge to put Bahrain Raid Xtreme “BRX” on course for a maiden title triumph in the inaugural FIA World Rally-Raid Championship.
The nine-times World Rally Champion is just a single point behind Nasser Al Attiyah after finishing second to the Qatari in last month’s Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia, and wants to go one better in the second round of the new Rally-Raid series in the UAE.
Since Dakar, Loeb has secured a memorable eighth career win in the Monte Carlo Rally in his first WRC start since 2020, and the Frenchman is in Bahrain this week as BRX fine tunes preparations for the Desert Challenge running from 5-10 March.
“Today was a lot of fun for everyone, and I’m very happy that we were able to show our guests what a fantastic rally car the Hunter is, and why I’m so excited to be driving it,” said Loeb.
“Now we concentrate fully on the Desert Challenge, and we’re going to do everything we need to do to give ourselves the best chance of winning the rally.
“The overall aim this year now is to win the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship, and put ourselves in the position to do the same in the Dakar next year, which is our major target as a team.”
The sustainable fuel used by BRX reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 80% compared to petrol, because it is made from agricultural waste material.
By using it during the Dakar, the team’s three cars saved over 28 tonnes of CO2 emissions. BRX aims to demonstrate that such fuels can be used as an alternative to petrol and diesel in road transport, and immediately make a contribution to fighting climate change.
Following the Desert Challenge, the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship moves on to rounds in Kazakhstan (April 24-30), Spain (June 6-12) and Morocco (October 6-12).
