Oman International Rally 2005 (OM) - 16-18 Mar 05

Posted: June 16, 2005 12:29 PM

The event was held under the patronage of the Ministry of Tourism, with support from the Oman Automobile Association, Muscat Municipality, Omantel, Qwat Jabal and Intevents.
The revelation of the second day was the form of Sheikh Suhail Bin Khalifa Al-Maktoum. The UAE driver began leg two in third position in his Subaru Impreza WRX STi and set the fastest time in the eighth stage. He repeated the feat in SS9 to move ahead of the defending champion Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi in his Power Horse-supported Subaru Impreza WRX STi. But Al-Maktoum took an 18-second chunk out of Al-Attiyah's overall advantage in one stage alone.
The Qatari had reached the end of the opening leg with a damaged piston in his Subaru's engine and was unsure whether he would be able to reach the end of the rally. "The car sounds like a 1973 Ford Cortina," groaned Al-Attiyah's co-driver Chris Patterson. "It was a matter of taking it easy today and trying to will the car to the finish."
Against the odds and with an engine running on three cylinders, Al-Attiyah managed to take the fastest time in the 10th stage, when Al-Maktoum damaged his steering seven kilometres from the finish and Al-Qassimi erred on the side of caution. With four stages remaining, Al-Attiyah had a 2m 15s advantage over his rivals, who were tied to the second after nearly two hours of competition.
Al-Qassimi edged back into outright second place in the 11th stage with the fastest time, as he reduced Al-Attiyah's lead to 1m 59s. But time was running out for both UAE drivers to catch the stricken Qatari Subaru. Al-Qassimi took a 30-second chunk out of Al-Attiyah's lead in the 12th Al-Atkiya stage and moved eight seconds ahead of Al-Maktoum, but only a 21 kms stage and the 2.60 kms super special remained to overturn a 1m 29s deficit.
It was not enough. Al-Attiyah dramatically beat his rival by four seconds in the penultimate stage and assured an almost certain victory. But the runner-up position was only settled on the final spectator test, when Al-Qassimi confirmed second overall by a mere one second in a stunning climax.
"We gave it our best shot, but it was not enough," admitted Al-Qassimi. "I don't think that the engine problem was as serious as Nasser's team made out. The engine lasted all day. But second place means eight more points on the board."
Qatar's Misfer Al-Marri had been running as high as fourth overall, as he attempted to maintain third position in the championship. He slipped to fifth behind Sheikh Abdullah Al-Qassimi after SS7 and then rolled his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution out of contention in the ninth stage. Nizar Al-Shanfari duly moved up to fifth position in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, but the Omani driver retired in the 10th stage after damaging the oil cooler.
Abdullah Al-Qassimi overcame late suspension problems to take fourth position and leading Mitsubishi, while Jordan's Amjad Farrah and Saudi's Ahmed Al-Sabban completed the top six. Oman-based veteran Tony Georgiou was 10th, behind the seventh-placed leading Omani Khaled Soomar, Qatar's Khalifa Al-Attiyah and Kuwait's Mufeed Mubarak. Kuwait's Meshal Al-Nejadi arrived in the Sultanate of Oman with a two-point lead in the Super 1600 series and steered his Citroen Saxo to victory again.
Oman's Hamed Al-Wahaibi took advantage of new FIA Super Rally regulations to restart the second leg of the rally for testing and development purposes with his new British co-driver David Senior. Al-Wahaibi heads off to New Zealand next week to take part in his first round of the 2005 FIA Production World Rally Championship. Rally Oman is the first event in the regional series to introduce the new Super Rally regulation, which may well come into force on all rallies from the Jordan Rally in May.
Meanwhile, the next round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship will be the Mitsubishi Qatar Rally on April 14th-16th

Rally Oman 2005 - overall positions after SS14:
1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Chris Patterson (GB) Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2h 31m 45s
2. Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi (UAE)/Craig Parry (GB) Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2h 33m 14s
3. Sheikh Suhail Bin Khalifa Al-Maktoum (UAE)/Ahmed Al-Ghaziri (UAE) Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2h 33m 15s
4. Sheikh Abdullah Al-Qassimi (UAE)/Steve Lancaster (GB) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8 2h 41m 05s
5. Amjad Farrah (HKJ)/Khaled Zakaria (HKJ) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 7 2h 43m 22s
6. Ahmed Al-Sabban (KSA)/Killian Duffy (IRL) Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2h 43m 23s
7. Khalid Soomar (OM)/Yousof Al-Zadjuli (OM) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 6 2h 47m 26s
8. Khalifa Al-Attiyah (QA)/Rashid Al-Sulaiti (QA) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 7 2h 48m 36s
9. Mufeed Mubarak (KWT)/Saad Al-Melaifi (KWT) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8 2h 49m 07s
10. Tony Georgiou (OM)/Nabil Njeim (RL) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8 2h 50m 35s

Oman Rally

• 2005 FIA Middle East Rally Championship