2007 Rally Oman - 15-16 Mar 07

Posted: March 19, 2007 12:46 PM

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UAE'S KHALID AL-QASSIMI TAKES CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD WITH DRAMATIC VICTORY IN RALLY OMAN
Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah crashes out of Rally Oman
Sharjah's Sheikh Abdullah and Jordan's Farrah in second and third UAE Rally Team's Saleh in fourth;
Khalil Al-Zadjali finishes as leading Omani in sixth

The UAE's Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi and co-driver Nicky Beech clinched their first ever victory in Rally Oman, after a dramatic final day's action over seven demanding gravel stages in the Sultanate of Oman on Friday.

At the wheel of the Team Abu Dhabi Subaru Impreza WRX STi, the 2004 FIA Middle East Rally Champion, leapt into a four-point lead in the seven-round series after taking the lead for the first time on the 11th special stage.

Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah looked on course to win Rally Oman for the fifth successive year, after extending his overall lead to 95 seconds on the 10th stage on Friday morning. But the defending FIA Middle East and PWRC champion, who had led from the start, dramatically crashed out of the event five kilometres from the finish of the 11th Yitti stage after leaving a rocky section of road at speed following a mechanical failure.

The impact with a large rock badly damaged the front of the Subaru Impreza, but both Nasser and co-driver Chris Patterson were uninjured. The incident marked the crew's second serious accident in the space of nine days on opposite sides of the world.

"It's a major boost to our season to win this rally for the first time," said a delighted Al-Qassimi. "I didn't have time to take in the fact that Nasser had crashed, because we had our own problems on the same stage. The track was rough and very rutted and we punctured a tyre and damaged the front suspension. I was just desperate to reach the finish of the special. This result makes the championship wide open now."

"We were running well and then we think we broke the steering rack in the 11th stage and crashed head on into a big rock," said Al-Attiyah. "The car is completely finished. The engine is gone. We are both okay, but now I have even more pain in my shoulder after the accident in Mexico last week..."

Sharjah's Sheikh Abdullah Al-Qassimi and British co-driver Steve Lancaster moved up to second place in the championship by taking a similar position in the overall standings, albeit 4m 53s behind the winners. Jordan's Amjad Farrah and Italian co-driver Nicola Arena overcame propshaft and sump guard damage on the rocky surfaces to maintained their championship challenge with a solid third place.

The UAE Rally Team's Michel Saleh benefited from City of Arabia backing to steer his new Subaru Impreza to a fine fourth position, after overhauling Qatar's Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari on the second stage of the second leg. Qatar's Misfer Al-Marri was fifth and Khalil Al-Zadjali was the leading Omani driver home in sixth place.

Al-Attiyah began the final leg of seven special stages with a 1m 11s advantage over Khalid Al-Qassimi and he extended that to 1m 25s after winning the 20.79km Al Hajir special. Abdullah Al-Qassimi maintained a solid third and Farrah was comfortable in fourth place.

Al-Attiyah won the ninth stage by eight seconds, but the form driver was young Nicholai Georgiou, who had restarted under the SupeRally ruling after mechanical problems on Thursday. The UK-based son of former Oman national champion, Tony Georgiou, was fifth in SS8 and third in SS9, as he began to climb through the tail-enders.

It was a similar pattern in the 10th stage, with Georgiou again third quickest behind the two leaders. Farrah was forced to stop on the road section to the 11th stage to repair a damaged sump guard. "If I put as much driving effort into a Subaru, as I need to with the Mitsubishi, then maybe I would be right up there," shrugged Farrah.

The contest was settled in Al-Qassimi's favour after Al-Attiyah's accident on the third run through the Yitti special, but the leading trio still had to survive the rigours of the remaining Al Hajir, Sawaqim and Arqi specials. Kuwait Mufeed Mubarak and Qatar's Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari both fell foul of the treacherous 11th stage, Kuwait's Salah Bin Eidan finished SS12 on three wheels and was set to go no further, but young Georgiou maintained his flying form to the finish with a string of impressive stage times. Al-Kuwari was sidelined with battery problems.

There was disappointment for Khalid Al-Suwaidi at the start of the eighth stage. The young Qatari revved his Mitsubishi on the start line of the special, damaged the clutch and was forced into retirement.

Several competitors failed to restart under SupeRally. Qatar's Khalifa Khalifa Al-Attiyah suffered engine problems during leg one, Oman's Nizar Al-Shanfari withdrew with an overheating engine, while both the UAE's Musaed Al Murab and Oman's Hamoud Al-Toqi rolled out of contention. Ibrahim Al-Abri suffered terminal engine-related problems and the Italian Agostino Ontano was forced to withdraw with overheating issues.

"I would like to thank the Government of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos for their invaluable support in helping us to put on a successful Rally Oman 2007," said Hamed Al-Wahaibi, chairman of the organising committee. "The Oman Automobile Association laid faith in me in this new role and I will try and repay them by taking motorsport in the Sultanate of Oman to another level."

"Now that the rally is over, it is evident that the popularity of rallying in Oman is strong and we will work together to fulfil the goal of taking Rally Oman into the prestigious FIA World Rally Championship in the future."

This weekend's event was supported by the Oman Ministry of Tourism, with assistance from the Ministry of Sports Affairs and was organised by Intevents and the Oman Automobile Association. Crucial support came from Gulf Air, OEPNA, Precision Tune, Infocomm, Baabood LLC, Intercontinental Hotels, Muscat Municipality and Red Bull.

The Troodos Rally is the next round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship and will take place in Cyprus in mid-April.

RESULTS
1. Khalid Al-Qassimi (UAE)/Nick Beech (GB) Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2h 26m 37s
2. Abdullah Al-Qassimi (UAE)/Steve Lancaster (GB) Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2h 31m 30s
3. Amjad Farrah (HKJ)/Nicola Arena (I) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 2h 36m 47s
4. Michel Saleh (RL)/Kujlar Sular (TR) Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2h 37m 48s
5. Misfer Al-Marri (QA)/Hamad Al-Marri (QA) Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2h 41m 16s
6. Khalil Al-Zadjali (OM)/Naif Al-Obaidani (OM) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII 2h 42m 00s
7. Khalifa Al-Attiyah (QA)/Marwan Al-Raie (QA) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII 2h 42m 37s
8. David Scialom (GB)/ Thomas Mathias (GB) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V 2h 56m 54s
9. Sultan Al-Ameri (UAE)/Mike Kidd Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2h 56m 58s
10. Andreas Wimmer (A)/Michael Kolbach (A) Subaru Impreza WRX STi 3h 03m 25s

Full Results
Oman Rally

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PRE EVENT NEWS

• HAMED AL-WAHAIBI PLEDGES TO PUSH RALLY OMAN INTO THE WORLD SPOTLIGHT
• Nasser Al-Attiyah & Chris Patterson head entry list.

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14/03/07
HAMED AL-WAHAIBI PLEDGES TO PUSH RALLY OMAN INTO THE WORLD SPOTLIGHT
Rally Oman 2007 gets underway with ceremonial start in Muscat Opening Oman special stages set to fire into life on Thursday morning

Hamed Al-Wahaibi, the chairman of the organising committee of this weekend's Rally Oman, is looking forward to pushing motorsport in the Sultanate of Oman to another level. The two-day, second round of this year's FIA Middle East Rally Championship got underway with the ceremonial start at the Intercontinental Hotel in Muscat on Wednesday afternoon.

Thirty drivers from nine nations were flagged away by His Excellency Rashad Al-Hinai, under-secretary at the Ministry of Sports, in the presence of Hamed Al-Wahaibi, former regional rally champion Mohammed Ben Sulayem, His Excellency Mohammed Al-Tobi, under secretary at the Ministry of Tourism, and Colonel Salim Maskiry, chairman of the Oman Automobile Association.

Al-Wahaibi is a former regional Group N champion and a regular competitor in the FIA World Rally Championship. He will chair the organising team for the first time this weekend. But the Omani rally star, who took up his exciting new post a month ago, is keen to see Rally Oman push on with an ambitious bid to become a candidate round of the FIA World Rally Championship.

The Sultanate of Oman benefits from some of the finest flowing gravel special stages anywhere in the world and Al-Wahaibi is looking to build a top class rally around the infrastructure put into place by the Oman Automobile Association.

"I am very proud to be a major part of the organising team for Rally Oman," said Al-Wahaibi. "The Oman Automobile Association helped me in my rallying career and I owe it to my country to work to promote this rally and take it to another level.

"We need to build a national rally championship of, perhaps, six rounds and encourage new people to take part in the sport in Oman. Then, I want to base a future WRC candidate round in Oman, possibly as early as 2008, using as many Omani nationals on the organising team as possible."

Al-Wahaibi's rallying career began in 1997 and he last competed in a WRC event in Japan 2005, but the Omani is relishing the challenge of a key organising role. "Just look at Bahrain as a case in point," adds Al-Wahaibi. "Formula One came to the region and now we have Abu Dhabi waiting in the wings and set to join the F1 calendar as well. The Jordan Rally will become a round of the WRC in 2008 and that will be a massive boost for the entire sport of rallying in the Middle East region. I wish the organisers in Jordan every success with their venture.

"The FIA are keen for the events to adopt a rotation system and I am sure that Oman would benefit from this in the future, with our superb location, warm hospitality and quality of special stages. This is the long-term goal, but I need to make sure that we establish the foundations first and that entails working on a key organising team and establishing our national rally championship."

This weekend's event is being supported by the Oman Ministry of Tourism with assistance from the Ministry of Sports Affairs and is organised by Intevents and the Oman Automobile Association.

Cars took part in the official ceremonial start on Wednesday afternoon at the Intercontinental Hotel in Muscat, but the special stage action is confined to Thursday and Friday this year, after organisers took the decision to do away with the customary super special stage.

Non-starters from the original 36-car entry list include the UAE's Sadiq Fadhel, Ron Oakeley, Yayha Al-Amri and Michael Ziegler, while Bahrain's Hassan Al-Sadadi and Kuwait's Meshari Al-Thafiri also failed to start.

Crucial support for this year's rally comes from Gulf Air, OEPNA, Precision Tune, Infocomm, Baabood LLC, Intercontinental Hotels, Muscat Municipality and Red Bull.

Thursday's action fires into life with the Sawaqim special stage at 08.23hrs and there will be a further six special stages on Thursday. After the opening stage teams will tackle the Arqi and Yitti sections. According to Al-Wahaibi, the Yitti special stage has been referred to as one of the finest in the world by regular WRC co-driver Chris Patterson, who won last year's FIA Middle East rally series with Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah, the pre-event favourite to win Rally Oman 2007.

Yitti will be followed by service at the Intercontinental Hotel and a run through the 13.36km special at Wadi Dhaiqa. This test will be run a second time in the afternoon and repeat runs through the Sawaqim and Arqi stages bring the day's action to a conclusion. Rally Oman 2007 is due to finish at the Intercontinental Hotel at 18.00hrs on Friday afternoon.

Leading starters:
1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Chris Patterson (GB) Subaru Impreza WRX STi
2. Khalid Al-Qassimi (UAE)/Nick Beech (GB) Subaru Impreza WRX Sti
3. Abdullah Al-Qassimi (UAE)/Steve Lancaster (GB) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX
4. Amjad Farrah (HKJ)/Nicola Arena (I) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX
5. Michel Saleh (RL)/Cagral (TR) Subaru Impreza WRX STi
6. Khalifa Khalifa Al-Attiyah (QA)/Nasser Al-Kuwari (QA) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII
7. Nizar Al-Shanfari (OM)/George Aletraris (CY) Subaru Impreza WRX STi
8. Mufeed Mubarak (KWT)/Yousef Al-Asmar (KWT) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII
9. Misfer Al-Marri (QA)/Hamad Al-Marri (QA) Subaru Impreza WRX STi
10. Khalid Al-Zadjali (OM)/Naif Al-Obaidani (OM) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII

Oman Rally

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12/03/07
Nasser Al-Attiyah & Chris Patterson head entry list.
The two-day Rally Oman 2007, round two of the 2007 FIA Middle East Rally Championship, gets underway from the Intercontinental Hotel in Muscat at 16.00hrs on Wednesday afternoon and finishes at 16.00hrs on Friday afternoon after two legs of timed gravel special stages on Thursday, March 15th and Friday, March 16th.

The event is being supported and hosted by the Ministry of Tourism with assistance from the Ministry of Sports Affairs and is being organised by Intevents and the Oman Automobile Association.

Thirty-three drivers from nine countries have entered this year's event including nine crews from the State of Qatar, eight from the UAE, five from Oman, four from Kuwait, two from Lebanon and single entrants from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Austria and Great Britain.

Several of the leading crews and members of the organising committee will attend the official pre-event press conference on Tuesday evening at the Intercontinental Hotel. Teams spent Monday and Tuesday this week carrying out an organised reconnaissance of the special stages.

Leading the international field is Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al-Atiiyah, the defending FIA regional champion and the winner of last year's Rally Oman. Al-Attiyah and Ulster co-driver Chris Patterson were able to carry out a reconnaissance of the gravel special stages between Muscat and Quriyat, after crashing out of the fourth round of the FIA World Rally Championship in Mexico. They had originally planned to arrive in Muscat on Tuesday evening, but the accident changed those original plans.

"It is going to be very tiring, after travelling all the way from Mexico, but Oman is a very nice rally and I am looking forward to it very much," said Al-Attiyah. "There are only seven rounds in the Middle East championship this season, so it is important that we get off to a good start and follow up the win in Qatar last month with a repeat win in Oman."

Al-Attiyah has won the regional title three times in the past four years and again lines up against his UAE arch rival Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi in Oman. At the wheel of his Team Abu Dhabi Subaru Impreza WRX STi, the 2004 regional champion and British co-driver Nicky Beech currently lie second overall in the championship, a mere two points behind Al-Attiyah, after finishing second overall to the Qatari in Doha last month.

Sharjah's Sheikh Abdullah Al-Qassimi and co-driver Steve Lancaster are third overall and will also be looking to add to their points' tallies in Oman, over stages that have been referred to as some of the most challenging in the world. Al-Qassimi is a former regional Group N champion and Lancaster won the overall Middle East title alongside rival Al-Attiyah in 2003.

Other UAE drivers include Khalifa Al-Mehairi, Musaed Al-Murar, Yayha Al-Amri and Ron Oakeley in four Subarus and Sadiq Fadhel and Michael Ziegler in a pair of Mitsubishis. Former Jordan Rally winner Amjad Farrah flies the Jordanian flag and will be hoping to build upon his fourth position in the championship.

Oman's leading rally star Hamed Al-Wahaibi has reverted to an organising role this year and, therefore, Omani drivers Khalid Soomar, Khalid Al-Minjii, Khalil Soomar Al-Zadjali, Hamoud Abdullah Al-Toqi and Ibrahim Salim Mohammed Al-Abri will represent the Sultanate of Oman in three Mitsubishis and a pair of Subarus.

Nicholai Georgiou hopes to follow in his father Tony's footsteps and become a competitive force in the regional series ­ his father was a former Oman national champion. The British youngster, who runs under a Lebanese competition licence, made his debut in this event last year and finished a fine sixth overall. He was ninth in Qatar last month and is more than capable of taking a top five finish with Lebanese co-driver Joseph Mattar in the ex-Roger Feghali Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII backed by National Trading Co. LLC. This will be his fourth event.

Veteran Michel Saleh is a former Gulf champion and will also fly the Lebanese flag in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.

Kuwait's Mufeed Mubarak was seventh in Qatar and took a similar position in Oman last season. He is joined on the entry list by fellow Kuwaitis Essam Al-Nejadi, Meshari Al-Thafiri and Saleh Bin Eidan in three Mitsubishis. Majid Al-Ghamdi is the sole Saudi Arabian entrant at the wheel of his Subaru Impreza.

While Al-Attiyah is the Qatari favourite, he is joined in Oman by eight further Qatar entrants: Nasser Al-Suwaidi, Misfer Al-Marri, Khalifa Al-Attiyah, Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah, Khalid Al-Suwaidi, Mohammed Al-Mannai, Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and Ahmed Al-Kuwari are also more than capable of achieving top results in a fleet of Mitsubishis, with only Misfer Al-Marri choosing to use a Subaru.

Austrian driver Andreas Wimmer has been taking part in select Middle East rallies for three seasons in his Subaru and enjoyed the challenging Oman stages in 2006 to record a superb fifth place with co-driver Michael Kolbach. He heads a three-strong European continent, which includes Britain's David Scialom and Italy's Agostino Ontano.

"I would like to welcome all the FIA officials, competitors and members of the media to the Sultanate of Oman," enthused His Excellency Mohammed bin Hamoud Al-Tobi, Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism. "We are delighted that the event has attracted such a strong entry and wish everyone a safe and enjoyable weekend's motorsport."

Crucial support for this year's rally comes from Gulf Air, OEPNA, Precision Tune, Infocomm, Baabood LLC, Intercontinental Hotels, Muscat Municipality and Red Bull.

Thursday marks the opening leg of Rally Oman 2007 and teams will tackle seven special stages. Competitive action gets underway with the opening timed Sawaqim special stage at 08.23hrs on Thursday morning and there will be a further six specials on Thursday and the remaining seven on Friday, before the official podium finish at 17.21hrs.

Event Website:

Oman Rally