Konrad Dąbrowski has won the Qatar International Baja for the fourth time. The Pole from Duust Rally Team won the motorcycle category on Saturday, 31 October 2026, with a lead of 5 minutes and 12 seconds over Britain’s Alex McInnes. Third place went to France’s Romain Dumontier. This is reported by the Gulf Times. The event was the fifth round of the FIM Bajas World Cup.
According to the Gulf Times, Dąbrowski is now the first motorcyclist with four wins at this event, after 2022, 2023 and 2025. The newspaper thereby places him ahead of Spain’s Marc Coma, who won in Qatar in 2012, 2013 and 2015. All results in this article come from that report. An official results list from the organiser or the FIM was not available.
Decided on the second stage
According to the Gulf Times, Dąbrowski had led since the prologue. He went into the final day with a lead of 5 minutes and 18 seconds over McInnes. Early on the stage south-west of Doha, McInnes made a navigation error that cost him 4 minutes and 47 seconds to the leader. The Briton then rode together with Dumontier. Later the two caught Dąbrowski in the Sealine dunes.
Dumontier took the stage win, 1 minute and 58 seconds ahead of McInnes. The third-fastest time was enough for Dąbrowski to win overall. By his own account, Dumontier was riding in Qatar for the first time.
“The plan was simple: don’t get lost.”
Konrad Dąbrowski, according to the Gulf Times (translation)
The winner also spoke of “four in a row” and said he remained unbeaten in Qatar. However, 2024 is missing from his list of winning years. The reports reviewed do not say whether there was no edition of the Baja in 2024.
The other placings
Young Briton Ethan Lane finished fourth after getting the better of Slovenia’s Toni Mulec. According to the Gulf Times, Michael Anderson and Robert Wallace took 6th and 7th place. On the final day, Norway’s Hans Dovland (Gas Gas) overtook reigning FIM champion Mohammed al-Balooshi and finished eighth. Philip Horlemann moved up to 9th place because al-Balooshi received time penalties. KTM riders took the first seven places and nine of the top ten. Joanna Modrzewska, who competes in the FIM women’s category, finished 20th.
Before the restart on Saturday, several motorcyclists received time penalties. Jordan’s Abdullah Abu Aisheh was given 8 minutes for arriving late at time control TC1A. Marcin Talaga received 5 minutes for losing his time card. Talaga and Thomas Cross later retired. Rafic Eid withdrew after a crash with a hand injury.
Route and championship
According to the FIM preview, the 2026 edition is 18.4 per cent longer. The preview does not say explicitly what it is being compared with. The plan was a prologue of 11.12 kilometres on Thursday, 29 October, a first special stage of 336.45 kilometres on Friday, 30 October, and a second of 204.79 kilometres on Saturday, 31 October. The FIM stated a total of 552.36 kilometres of special stage. Including the liaison sections, this gave a total distance of 860.05 kilometres.
According to the FIM, McInnes led the FIM Bajas World Cup with 58 points before the Qatar round. Behind him were Abdulhalim Al Mogeera with 56, Mohammed Al Balooshi with 50 and Ethan Lane with 38 points. Like McInnes and Lane, Dąbrowski competed in the Junior category. According to the FIM, however, he had no chance of the overall title. The sources reviewed contain no current points standings after the fifth round. The Gulf Times writes that McInnes improved his title chances with second place. The Briton said he hoped to win the title in Dubai so that he would not have to travel on to Portugal. According to the report, all three FIA and FIM championships continue the weekend after the Qatar round with the Dubai International Baja in the United Arab Emirates.
Quads and cars
The quad category was won by Khalifa al-Bastaki of the United Arab Emirates on a Yamaha. According to the Gulf Times, he defended his lead from the previous day against his compatriot Abdulaziz Ahli. Hani al-Noumesi finished third. He had stopped to help an injured rider and was credited the lost time afterwards. Ahmed al-Jaber arrived as leader of the FIM quad standings but did not start the final stage.
In the cars, Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah and his French co-driver Max Delfino won in the Optimus MD Rallye. Their lead over Francisco Barreto and Paulo Fiuza (Toyota Hilux IMT Evo) was 29 minutes and 8.7 seconds. The win secured them the titles in the FIA Middle East Baja Cup. According to the Gulf Times, it was al-Attiyah’s 13th win at his home event since 2004. Barreto, in second, heads into the finale in the Emirates leading the FIA World Baja Cup.
Sources and image credits
- Gulf Times: “Al-Attiyah and Delfino clinch FIA Middle East Baja Cup titles with victory at Qatar International Baja”, 31 October 2026
- Gulf Times: “Qatar International Baja gets underway with prologue and ceremonial start at Lusail on Thursday afternoon”, 28 October 2026
- FIM: “Qatar hosts an impressive line-up for the International Baja”, 26 October 2026
- Photo 1: Motorcyclist in the dunes, according to the Gulf Times caption Konrad Dąbrowski; photographer not named; source: Gulf Times; published on 31 October 2026.
- Photo 2 (archive photo): Duust Rally Team rider with number 2 in Qatar; © edophoto; source: FIM; published on 26 October 2026, before the event.