Career
Al-Attiyah won the PWRC in 2006, his third year in the championship alongside co-driver Chris Patterson, driving a Subaru Impreza. He gained the championship lead after finishing second in the PWRC class in the Rally Mexico and afterwards won the following two rounds, Rally Argentina and Acropolis Rally. He continued competing in both the PWRC and the Middle East Rally Championship.
After winning the 2008 FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup in a BMW, he took part alongside Swedish female co-driver Tina Thorner in the 2009 Dakar Rally in Argentina. He was among the frontrunners until he got disqualified on 8 January 2009 after he had missed 9 checkpoints, the rules stating that 4 missed checkpoints are the maximum. He finished second in the Rally dos Sertões from Goiânia to Natal in Brazil (24 June-3 July 2009) behind Carlos Sainz of Spain.
In the 2010 Dakar Rally, Al-Attiyah finished second, 2'12" behind Carlos Sainz, the smallest gap in the history of the race. On January 15, 2011, Al-Attiyah won the legendary Dakar race ahead of fellow Volkswagen drivers Sainz and Giniel de Villiers, making him the only Arab to ever win the difficult race.
In the World Rally Championship, Al-Attiyah scored his first points during the 2009 season, finishing eighth in the Rally Argentina. In 2010 and 2011, he drove for the Barwa Rally Team in the Super 2000 World Rally Championship, a WRC support championship for Super 2000 cars, classifying seventh overall in both years. For the 2012 season, Al-Attiyah moved to compete in the top division for the Qatar World Rally Team. He secured a career-best fourth place at the Rally de Portugal.
In shooting, Al-Attiyah came in fourth place in the 2004 Olympic Games in clay pigeon shooting and 15th overall in the 2008 Olympic Games, missing out on qualification for the final round by 2 points. In the 2012 Olympics Games he won the bronze medal after a shoot-off against Valeriy Shomin.
| Olympic results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | 2012 |
| Skeet | 15th 120 |
6th 122+23 |
4th 122+25 |
15th 117 |
3rd 121+23+6 |
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