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Hail Baja Victories

A Huge Leap Ahead The Saudi Abdullah Bakhashab and teh Lebanese Joseph Matar set off for the third day of the Rally in their Toyota FJ Cuiser.

The International Hail Rally 2010, one of the prominent Middle East sports events, with a distinguished status on the world sports map, is categorized as an official round at the world rally desert championships. The rally was held in the An-Nafud desert under the supervision of the Federation Internationale de L’Automobile «FIA». A number of world mega rally champions took part in the event which came to a close on Thursday February 18.

Maghwat Park Amidst the reddish mountains, a fantastic scene of the park that hoste the ceremonial event.

The three-day event was organized by the Saudi Arabian Motor Federation (SAMF) and kick-started the 2010 FIA International Cup for Cross-Country Bajas under the patronage of Prince Saud bin Abdul Mohsen bin Abdul Aziz, governor of Hail, president of the Supreme Commission for Hail Development and the head of the Supreme Commission of the Hail Rally.

Unsurprisingly, the Saudi driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi and French navigator Matthieu Baumel claimed their superb second successive victory in the Ha>il Baja, after comfortably setting the fastest time on the 187.7 km third selective section through the An-Nafud desert in the north-central region of the Kingdom on Thursday.

The Mitsubishi Lancer crew began the day with a 6m 34s advantage over Abdullah Bakhashab and Joseph Matar and managed to stay ahead of the Toyota FJ Cruiser Proto crew over the third day>s challenging desert route to the south and west of Hail to record a winning margin of 32m 54.3s when Bakhashab suffered clutch problems near the end.

The victory gave Al-Rajhi an unofficial four-point lead after round one of the Baja Cup, which resumes with the Northern Forest Rally, near Saint Petersburg in Russia, in less than two weeks time. Baumel also confirmed his hat-trick of Saudi Ha>il Baja suc-cesses, after guiding Qatar>s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah to victory in 2008 with the BMW X-raid team and Al-Rajhi with an Overdrive Nissan Pick-Up last year.

«The car was fantastic, Matthieu did a great job on the route and I am so happy to have made a winning start to my program in the Baja Cup,» said Al-Rajhi. «Winning at home in Saudi Arabia makes it extra special for me.»
The UAE>s Raed Baker and Nabil Ahmadi set the second fastest time of the day and managed to fend off a strong Saudi challenge over the closing kilometers to confirm the final podium place in their Mitsubishi L200. Mtair and Motaib Al-Shammeri finished fourth overall in their Toyota Land Cruiser and Farhan Al-Galeb and Tariq Ramah rounded off the top five in a Nissan.

Sami and Abdullah Al-Shammeri claimed victory in the T2 showroom category with their Bakhashab Isuzu Team D-Max, the Saudi duo benefiting from delays for UAE´s Yayha Al-Helai and the fact that Abdullah Al-Herais failed to restart on Thursday morning.
Twenty-five of the original 27 cars entered in the international event were permitted to restart stage three on Thursday morning, with Majed Al-Ghamdi succumbing to engine problems and Safah Al-Saeedi also falling by the wayside. Emirati Abdullah Al-Herais did not take the restart. Cars that did not complete the full second stage were given a notional time penalty of 10h and15m.

A Cup & Joy Prince Saud bin Abdul Mohsen hands the Cup to Yazeed Al-Rajhi and French navigator Matthieu Baurnel.

It was business as usual at the head of the field through the opening kilometers over a compacted surface out of Qana, with Al-Rajhi heading Bakhashab. Mtair Al-Shammery began an early charge and managed to pass Baker and Qatar>s Sheikh Hamed Bin Eid Al-Thani to take a virtual third position on the 187.7km stage, where sand became more prevalent on fast, winding tracks to the second safety point.

Al-Rajhi was the first to reach the Tawiya checkpoint and was followed by Bakhashab and Al-Shammeri, but Al-Thani was forced to stop around five kilometers after the start with mechanical problems, as Al-Shammeri inherited fourth overall and Al-Herais moved up to fifth. Saudi>s Abdullah Al-Dossary and Saleh Al-Saleh were also delayed and managed to continue.

Al-Rajhi maintained his advantage over Bakhashab to the Baaja checkpoint and Sami Al-Shammeri became embroiled in a close tussle with Al-Herais for the advantage in the T2 category. Thereafter, crews had to pass tricky rocky sections and several rough wadis to arrive at a giant dune with a steep uphill climb.

The outright leader continued to pull away from a clutch-troubled Bakhashab as the route turned south toward Mohaffar, while Baker managed to get passed the Al-Shammeri duo to regain third on the stage. The closing kilometers began on fast, graded tracks and gave way to sandier surfaces and several undulating passages through a series of sand dunes before a downhill section brought teams to the finish.