Syria - 05-07 Jun 08

Syrian International Rally official preview

Posted: June 5, 2008 1:30 PM

Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Ulster co-driver Chris Patterson lead an international field of 34 cars from 11 countries into the first stage of the 8th Syrian International Rally on Friday morning. The defending regional champions will drive the usual Autotek-run Subaru Impreza N14 and start as favourites to retain their Syrian Rally title.

The event is being run by the Syrian Automobile Club with support from Syria's Ministry of Tourism and has attracted impressive interest from the host nation, with six non-championship registered drivers set to tackle the 13 timed special stages. Mohammed and Ahmad Hamsho lead the way for the four-car Syrian Rally Team, with support from Haitham Al-Yousefi and Mirar Al-Homsi. Bashar Abu Khoura and Dubai-based Syrian Yazan Rijleh complete the home line-up.

Qatar's Misfer Al-Marri currently lies second overall in the regional series and heads a further four Qatari entrants, including Khalifa Khalifa Al-Attiyah and Mubarak Al-Hajri. Salah Bin Eidan tops the Kuwaiti contingent with support from the likes of Essam Al-Nejadi and Meshari Al-Thafiri.

Syria marks the return of Saudi Arabia's Ahmed Al-Sabban to the series after missing the last round in Cyprus. Al-Sabban has replaced the gearbox in his Toyota S2000 after recent testing near Jeddah and lines up alongside Kuwait Rally winner Yazeed Al-Rajhi to represent the Kingdom. Al-Rajhi is confident that he has the pace to match Al-Attiyah and is planning to attack at all costs this weekend.

Amjad Farrah was unable to make the start after his car sustained heavy damage in Greece and the Jordanian will now head straight to the Rally of Turkey. Faris Bustami of the Damas Rally Team, Faris Hijazi and Ammar Hijazi represent the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Lebanese veteran Michel Saleh and Sheikh Suhail Bin Khalifa Al-Maktoum head a strong contingent from the UAE that also includes Sheikh Abdullah Al-Qassimi and his Lithuanian-Australian co-driver Fred Gocentas. Saleh lies fourth in the regional series after two rounds, while Al-Maktoum was the Group N leader for long periods in the WRC event in Jordan and is sure to be a top three pace-setter.

Bahraini drivers also return to the regional series for the first time this year with Hassan Al-Sadadi and Abdul Rahman Ghuloom representing the island. Muscat's Nizar Al-Shanfari is the sole representative from the Sultanate of Oman, 20-year-old Cyprus Rally winner Nicos Thomas will be looking for championship points to take back to Cyprus and London-based Lebanese driver Nick Georgiou is also capable of a top result. Both Georgiou and Thomas are strong contenders for the FIA Pirelli award.

The event also marks the first appearance of the Abu Dhabi Junior Rally Team's three Ford Fiesta drivers in the regional championship. Abu Dhabi-based candidates Mansour Al-Suwaidi, Majed Al-Shamsi and Bader Al-Jabri are taking part after Rashid Al-Shamsi was replaced at the 11th hour by 23-year-old Al-Jabri, who tackled the first of the two UAE national rallies earlier this year. "This will be a very useful test for all our drivers," enthused team principal and 2004 Syrian Rally winner Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi.

Tomorrow (Friday) action will centre around seven timed special stages in the Syrian deserts to the north of Sednaya. The 12.5km Jupiter special gets the action underway at 9.39hrs and will be followed by runs through the Hafar and Baida stages before the midday regroup and service at Dair Ateyah. The three specials are repeated in the afternoon and Friday's competitive action is rounded off with a run through the 24.9km Sheraton stage at 15.11hrs.

Saturday's action featured six special stages and begins with a run through the 20.5km Honda special at 9.38hrs. Two more specials follow before service at Dair Ateyah, including a run through the Nabk stage, which is a shortened reverse of the Sheraton test. The second run through Nabk is the final special of the event at 15.11hrs and is followed by the ceremonial finish in front of the Sheraton in Sednaya from 16.48hrs.

"The stages are quite rough in places and challenging," admitted Al-Attiyah's co-driver Chris Patterson. "They are a different kind of rough to the ones we had on the Acropolis in Greece last week and will require caution. There is an obvious risk of punctures. Because our Subaru N14 is still in the development phase we will have to take extra care not to have problems."

The event has attracted support from Hamsho International, Jupeter rent-a-car, the Sheraton Ma'aret Sednaya, Honda, Nissan and Radio Syria Alghad.

Leading starters (in seeded order): 1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Chris Patterson (GB) Subaru Impreza WRX STi
3. Abdullah Al-Qassimi (UAE)/Fred Gocentas (LT) Subaru Impreza WRX STi
4. Suhail Bin Khalifa (UAE)/Ahmad Ghaziri (RL) Subaru Impreza WRX STi
5. Michel Saleh (RL)/Stepeh McAuley (GB) Subaru Impreza WRX STi
6. Ahmad Hamsho (SYR)/Yousef Al-Asmar (HKJ) Subaru Impreza WRX STi
7. Khalifa Khalifa Al-Attiyah (QA)/Marwan Musabeh (QA) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX
8. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (KSA)/Matthieu Baumel (F) Subaru Impreza WRX STi
9. Misfer Al-Marri (QA)/Adel Hussein (QA) Subaru Impreza WRX STi
10. Mohammed Hamsho (SYR)/Steve Lancaster (GB) Subaru Impreza WRX STi
11. Nicos Thomas (CY)/Andreas Christodoulides (CY) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution

Syrian Rally

MIDDLE EAST'S TOP RALLY DRIVERS COMPLETE PREPARATIONS FOR SYRIAN INTERNATIONAL RALLY

Posted: June 5, 2008 1:26 PM

The Middle East's top rally drivers have just completed two days of reconnaissance for the 8th Syrian International Rally, round three of this year's FIA Middle East Rally Championship, which gets underway in Damascus on Thursday afternoon (June 5th) and finishes in Sednaya on Saturday.

Thirty-five cars from 11 countries will tackle two days of gravel special stages in the Syrian desert on the event that is being run by the Syrian Automobile Club with the support of Syria's Ministry of Tourism. The official start ceremony will take place at 18.00 hrs on Thursday evening in the Abu Rummaneh or diplomatic area of Damascus.

Several co-drivers have swapped rides for the third round of the regional series. Frenchman Matthieu Baumel is normally seen alongside Guerlain Chicherit as a member of the X-raid Cross-Country rally team, but has tackled select events in the Middle East this season. He is set to replace Britain's Steve Lancaster in the navigator's seat for Saudi Arabian driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi for the first time. Lancaster, who will undergo a neck operation next Tuesday in the UK, switches to a competitive role alongside Syrian driver Mohammed Hamsho.

Misfer Al-Marri lies second overall in the regional championship and is reunited with his former Qatari co-driver Adel Hussein for the Syrian event, while Oman's Nizar Al-Shanfari teams up with British co-driver Daniel Barritt for the second time after running with Ieuan Thomas in Qatar. The UAE's experienced Wael Marjan partners Qatar's Mubarak Al-Hajri and Ireland's Michael Morrissey steps into the breach alongside Kuwait's Salah Bin Eidan.

Al-Marri's main championship rival Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah is in the middle of one of the most hectic motor sport programmes of any driver in the world. In the last month alone he has tackled the Central Europe Rally, the Cyprus Rally, the Transiberico Rally and the Acropolis Rally in Greece and heads straight off to the WRC Rally of Turkey next week after trying to defend his Syrian Rally title.

He has had mixed fortunes in recent weeks and has been unable to continue his winning streak: Al-Attiyah finished second in Transiberico and Cyprus, but retired in Greece while leading the P-WRC category and was sidelined in the Central Europe Rally after setting several fastest times.

The Qatari is currently receiving medical treatment for a mild throat infection, but has not missed the crucial recce of the new Syrian stages to the north of Sednaya and is sure to be the favourite for victory at the weekend. "I need to get back into winning ways and make sure that I win this event," said Al-Attiyah, although his car did sustain some pre-event damage during a test in Syria at the start of the week.

Ulster co-driver Michael Orr is marking his return to Sednaya and the Syrian Rally for the first time since he won the event outright with Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi in 2004 on the way to clinching the regional championship. "It seems a long time since I was here, but all the memories soon came flooding back," admitted Orr, who will be co-driving one of three Ford Fiestas as part of the new Abu Dhabi Junior Rally Team. "It's a new challenge but I know, for sure, that I will not be winning the event this year!"

Visual media from around the Middle East and Western Europe have also been arriving in Syria to record television footage of the event, the start and finish of which will be beamed live around the Levant by the host Syrian network. Several satellite stations from Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Lebanon, Cyprus and Jordan will either record or receive footage of the event for transmission, in addition to a crew producing a 40-minute programme for Sky Sports' 'World Motor Sport' programme in the UK.

Syria's premier motor sport event has attracted support from Jupeter rent-a-car, the Sheraton Ma'aret Sednaya, Honda, Nissan and Radio Syria Alghad.

Abu Dhabi Junior Rally Team set for MERC debut in Syria

Posted: June 3, 2008 11:22 AM

The new Abu Dhabi Junior Rally Team will make its first competitive appearance in the FIA Middle East Rally Championship, when three cars are entered in this weekend's Syrian International Rally. The third round of the regional series takes place in the deserts to the north of Damascus on June 5th-7th.

Emirati drivers Mansour Al-Suwaidi, Majed Al-Shami and Rashid Al-Shami will use three Ford Fiestas that have been prepared by M-Sport in the United Kingdom. The team has been put together by former FIA Middle East Rally Champion and BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRC driver Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi, with the support of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), which is run under the chairmanship of His Excellency Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al-Nahyan.

The front-wheel drive cars are fitted with two-litre engines and will be run on the events under the management of Australian technical director Ron Cremen and his team of experienced rally mechanics. The Ulster duo of Allan Harryman and Michael Orr will be joined by Australian Dale Moscatt as the three team co-drivers. Three Ford Fiestas will subsequently be entered on the remaining four rounds of the regional series in Lebanon, Jordan, Cyprus and Dubai.

Orr won the regional series with Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi in 2004 and has returned this season to be the UAE driver's regular partner in the FIA World Rally Championship. Harryman is the son of the veteran WRC legend Terry Harryman and has over 10 years' experience rallying in the region and took part in the recent WRC round in Jordan.

"I am proud that we have been able to put together this new Abu Dhabi Junior Rally Team," enthused Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi. "It is my dream to see these young drivers progress in the sport and one day line up at the top of the leader boards in both the regional rally championship and the WRC. Our goal is to nurture the new talent from the UAE and see them move up through the ranks."

The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority is one of the most progressive sponsors in world motorsport and already backs the official BP Ford World Rally Team and the Ford Focus WRCs of Mikko Hirvonen, Jari-Matti Latvala and Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi on all rounds of the FIA World Rally Championship, in addition to supporting a Spirit of the Rally award on each round of the global series.

The Abu Dhabi Junior Rally Team has made a couple of appearances on UAE national rallies this season already, but the step up to the three-day Syrian International Rally will be a major test for Al-Suwaidi, Al-Shami and Al-Shami. The Syrian desert features harsh and unforgiving terrain and all three will need to drive cautiously to ensure that they reach the finish on Saturday afternoon (June 7th).

The event gets underway with a ceremonial start in Damascus on Thursday, before a provisional 35 cars tackle two days of testing gravel stages in the area to the north of the rally base at Sednaya and the capital, Damascus.

QATAR'S NASSER AL-ATTIYAH SET TO TAKE FIVE-POINT CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD TO SYRIA

Posted: May 19, 2008 6:26 PM

Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah will take a five-point lead in the 2008 FIA Middle East Rally Championship into the third round of the series in Syria on June 6th-8th. The defending regional champion overcame a catalogue of problems to record third place in last weekend's Cyprus Rally and gain points for being the second registered championship finisher.

Before heading to Sednaya, in the hills to the north of Damascus next month, the Qatari will take part in this coming weekend's Transiberico Rally with the BMW X-raid team in Spain and Portugal. All of the regular championship regulars are expected to attend the popular Syrian round of the series, which features new stages this season and a new service park at Deir Atiyeh city.

The series regulars will be joined on the entry list by the veteran Bahrain driver Hassan Al-Sadadi, who returns to the championship for the first time since his spectacular accident in the Al Ain-based UAE International Rally at the start of the 2006 season.

"I've attended several of the rallies as a spectator in recent months and enjoyed being back amongst friends," admitted the Bahraini. "I am flat out at the moment building a Subaru Impreza N10 to use in Syria. I'm looking forward to coming back and representing Bahrain again in regional rallying."

Several of Subaru's new Impreza N14s took part in last weekend's Cyprus Rally and were plagued by overheating and engine problems. The UAE's Sheikh Suhail Bin Khalifa Al-Maktoum and Lebanese team mate Michel Saleh suffered overheating woes, although Oman's Nizar Al-Shanfari was delighted with the performance of his new car. Nevertheless, many of the top seeded regional drivers will face a battle against time to rebuild their cars before the Syrian event and make sure that the problems are not repeated.

Veteran Tony Georgiou, father of Nick Georgiou who finished sixth in Cyprus, reckons that overheating will not be a factor in Syria. "The twisty nature of the stages in Cyprus means that the average speeds are much lower and that makes engines more susceptible to overheating. The deserts in Syria will be much faster and cars will have better cooling. Overheating will not a problem," said the Oman-based Lebanese.

The Syrian event will take place under the patronage of the Ministry of Tourism and is being organised by the Syrian Automobile Club.

New gravel special stages and new service park for Syrian event

Posted: January 28, 2008 10:41 PM

Officials at the Syrian Automobile Club in Damascus have announced details of the revised 8th Syrian International Rally, round three of the 2008 FIA Middle East Rally Championship, which takes place on June 5th-7th.

Syria's premier motorsport event will be based in Sednaya, north of Damascus, for the fourth time and is likely to attract the cream of the Middle East's rally fraternity, who look set to tackle a challenging new selection of gravel special stages. The event was based in Damascus between 2000 and 2003.

According to Syrian clerk of the course Hani Shaban, around 40% of the rally will feature new terrain. "A few of the special stages have been completely changed," said Shaban, who is working as clerk of the course for a second successive year. "We will also have a completely new service park in Dair Ateyah city. It will be expansive and will use a tarmac surface. We will also have a facility for live results and hospitality areas for VIP guests and an area for the working media."

The Syrian event ran for the first time in 2000 as a candidate rally and has been a popular round of the regional championship ever since, although it was cancelled in 2006 because of regional unrest. It always attracts strong support from the Levant and the usual GCC registered drivers. Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah won in 2007 and is sure to return again to defend his title in a Subaru Impreza STi.

Syrian organisers have also attracted sponsorship from private companies for the event, which again runs under the patronage of the Ministry of Tourism. Jupeter rent-a-car, the Sheraton Ma'aret Sednaya, Honda, Nissan and Radio Syria Alghad have all offered support to the event.

The timetable gets underway with the ceremonial start in Damascus on Thursday, June 5th and the special stages take place over the following two days. The podium finish will be in the grounds of the Sheraton Ma'aret Sednaya on Saturday, June 7th.

This year's Syrian International Rally will also feature live tracking technology for a second time, as the Syrian Automobile Club bids to police stage safety and security more accurately.

Regulations and further information about entries and concessions are available from

Syrian Rally