JEDDAH, 11 January 2008 — Hail Rally 2008 will be staged as the opening round of the FIA Baja series from Feb. 11-14 in Hail, Abdullah Bakhashab, Saudi rally driver and motorsport developer, said on Sunday.
Giving details of the event labeled ‘Saudi Arabia Hail Baja, the Hail Rally 2008 – the ‘Great Nufud Challenge’, Bakhashab told the media that the Hail round would be the first of the six-round FIA International Cup for Cross-country Bajas.”
The event is being organized by the Saudi Motor Sports Committee with the support of Prince Saud ibn Abdul Mohsen, governor of Hail, president of the supreme Commission for Hail Development and the head of the supreme Commission of the Hail Rally.
“The event joins other rounds of the increasingly popular FIA series in Italy, Spain, Hungary, Wales and Portugal,” Bakhashab said, adding that the round will be staged in Hail, and is open for cars that comply with both FIA T1 and T2 regulations. Mishaal Al-Sudairy, who is the chairman of the organizing committee for a second successive year, said: “Our acceptance into the FIA calendar for 2008 is a major boost to motorsport across the Kingdom and the rest of the Middle East. We received favorable reports about the nature of the terrain we used last year for our event and look forward to welcoming overseas competitors in greater numbers in upcoming round.”
Driver entries for the 2008 event, which has already started, will continue up to Jan. 29. “The event will again be centered at the first class Maghawat facility on the outskirts of Hail and competitors will face two days of daunting off-road action in the Nufud desert, north of the city,” Sudairy added.
Scrutiny and documentation will take place on the revised date of Feb. 11, which will be followed by the ceremonial start at the Prince Sultan Center in Hail at 2 p.m. on Feb. 12. Competitors will then head straight into a times super special stage at 3:30 p.m.
The first desert leg will take place between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Feb. 13, and the second and final leg will start at 9 a.m. on Feb. 14 and conclude at 3:30 p.m. The ceremonial finish will take place at Maghawat from 6 p.m. Five other rounds – in Italy from March 15-17, Spain July 17-20, Hungary Aug. 21-24, Wales Sept. 25-28 and Portugal Oct. 18-21 — will follow the Hail event.
