JEDDAH, 28 July 2004 — The first official desert rally in the Kingdom will begin today as part of Jeddah Summer Festival, Saudi Arabia’s ace driver Abdullah Bakhashab, the organizer of the event, told a press conference here. He said the desert rally is part of their effort to train Saudi drivers to take part in international and regional events.
The two-day event is being held in Bahra area of Jeddah-Makkah Expressway. The rally is being supported by General Presidency of Youth Welfare.
He said “Tat’ees, as the rally is called in Arabic, is quite popular among local youth. In the presence of the sponsors, ALJ, Bison energy drink, and Al Bilad, the media sponsor, Bakhashab said: “The holding of the rally is to organize the event officially and to find talent among the local youth.”
He also urged the participants to strictly follow the rules in order to protect themselves from injury. The participants can drive cars or motorcycles. The races will be in six different categories.
On the first day, all the participants will drive their own vehicles in different classification of cars. The competitors can drive cars with capacity of 4, 6 and 8 cylinders. Those who qualify for the final round will have to drive Toyota Landcruiser being supplied by the organizers.
The participants will have to drive across sand dunes and on desert track.
Work at the venue has been completed, and racing will be held in the east area between King Khaled National Guard Hospital and Bahra Bridge toward Makkah Expressway. Special stands for the audience are being set up with signs in order to help them reach the site.
Seif Mousaied Al-Shieshakly, marketing specialist of Abdul Latif Jameel Company, the main sponsor of the event, remarked that Saudi youth are very talented and adventurous and so the desert rally is being organized to promote their skill.
“I hope more Saudi youth will take part in international events once the desert rally becomes popular in the Kingdom,” said Bakhashab. “After the success of many car races that we organized like “Race of Champions” and “The Autocross”, we found that it is a suitable time to concentrate on desert races.”
Kingdom is a very suitable place to promote this sport. We found that our youth are very talented but they just need right guidance to develop their skills. So, in order to tap best drivers, this is the best way to explore talent by encouraging local youth to enter this event.
For details contact Mohammed Nassar on Cell 0509375856 Fax: 6520310 Tel: 6520360 and E-mail: m.nassar@abakhashab.
