JEDDAH, 11 June 2007 — Saudi rally driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi placed sixth in the Syrian International Rally in Damascus, Syria at the weekend. Though not too bad a finish for a first timer Al-Rajhi promised to do better next time round.
The Syrian Automobile Club and the Syrian Ministry of Tourism organized the event that attracted 35 competitors in the Middle East Championship’s fifth round.
Three more rounds are left in the eight-leg Middle East rally series. The sixth leg of the event will be held in Beirut, Lebanon in July if the organizing committee confirms it in 10 days.
Defending champion Nassir Al-Attiyah of Qatar successfully retained his title posting a winning time of (2: 20.35 sec). Second place went to UAE’s Shaikh Khalid Al-Qasimi (2:21.11 sec), third to UAE’s Shaikh Abdullah Al-Qasimi (2:29,10 sec), fourth to Qatar’s Misfir Al-Marri (2:30.28 sec) and fifth to Lebanese Nicola Jorjio (2:41.01 sec).
In taking the sixth position Al-Rajhi was clocked at 2:34.23 sec. Rounding out the top 10 were Kuwaiti Salah bin Idan (2:37.21 sec), Lebanese Nicola Jorjio (2:41,01 sec), Syrian Mohammed Hasho (2:41.58 sec) and Jordanian Amjad Al-Farrah (2:42.21 sec).
After five rounds Emirati Al-Qasimi led the standings with 41 points. Al-Attiyah ranked second with 30 points and Al-Farrah third with 28 points. Al-Rajhi still has a long way to go in the competition to as he languished in 11th place with 3 points.
Al-Rajhi told the press after event he considers his participation a motivation to move forward. “My ambition is not to place sixth but given the time to win the title, and this is what I’ll be working on and you will hopefully see,” he said. He added the Syrian International Rally was very amusing.
Speaking about the road safety he said, “the Syrian Automobile Club had established fine monitoring plans to secure the drivers’ safety and this shows their great concern for the competitors.”
Al-Rajhi then promised his fans he would participate in all succeeding competitions. “I will try my best to help make the sport of rallying more popular just like any other competitive sport in Saudi.”
