HAIL: Saudi Arabia's Yazeed Al-Rajhi and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel maintained their composure through the 187.70km third leg of the Saudi Ha'il Baja to record a sensational wire-to-wire victory in their Nissan Navara yesterday.

Making his first ever appearance on a Baja-type motor sport event, Al-Rajhi was the model of self-discipline over 500km of challenging Bedouin trails and off-piste tracks through the Ar Nafud desert, north of Ha'il, in north-western Saudi Arabia. His Belgian Overdrive Racing team survived a pre-event engine scare to seal a straightforward victory and Al-Rajhi was able to add to the similar success he achieved in last November's inaugural Sharqia Rally in the Eastern Province. "It's a fantastic feeling to win this famous event at my first attempt," said Al-Rajhi. "The car was perfect and Matthieu did a great job for me with the navigation and the road book. It was so different to driving on a normal special stage rally. It was more important to find a rhythm than outright speed."

The Dubai-based British crew of Mark Powell and Paul Richards finished 42m 44s behind the flying Saudi in their Honda-engined Buggy, the Briton recording his career-best finish on an international rally. The Czech crew of Miroslav Zapletal and Tomas Ourednicek secured the final podium place in their Mitsubishi Pajero and set the second fastest time on the day's selective section. The result meant that three nationalities and three car manufacturers filled the podium positions.

Local front-runner Rajeh Al-Shammeri had passed both Zapletal and Powell early in the day's stage before falling foul of electrical gremlins and Sami Al-Shammeri eventually claimed fourth overall.

The event was held under the patronage of Prince Saud bin Abdul Mohsen, governor of Hail, president of the High Commission for the Development of the Ha'il region and the Hhead of the Supreme Commission of the Hail Rally.

Twenty-six of the original 30 starters tackled the 187.70km final selective section, with the UAE's Abdullah Al-Herais and David Mabbs (blown engine) being joined on the retirement list by Saudi Arabia's Farhan Al-Ghaleb and Omar Al-Lahim.

Al-Rajhi began the special at Qanna with a 25m 54s lead and passed the first virtual checkpoint in just over 28 minutes. Safeh Al-Saedi was delayed with mechanical problems for over 30 minutes and Zapletal overtook Powell, although the Briton was also coming under pressure from Rajeh Al-Shammeri. The trio were running close together before the second tracking checkpoint. Qatar's Sheikh Hamed Bin Eid Al-Thani was making a final day charge from 10th overall and was the third fastest driver through the early kilometers.

The runaway Baja leader noticeably eased his pace and passed the second checkpoint in just over an hour, with Al-Shammeri managing to pass Zapletal to take advantage of a cleaner track and less dust. The Saudi had already taken five minutes out of Powell's 20-minute overnight hold on second position, but the Briton had a useful cushion heading into the second half of the stage.

Al-Rajhi reached the final checkpoint well clear of his rivals and headed into the closing kilometers of the stage to record a sensational win, but Al-Shammeri dropped over 20 minutes to his closest rivals with electrical problems, as Zapletal and Moteer Al-Shammeri took up the challenge for the stage win.

"I would like to thank all our sponsors for making this successful event possible and also congratulate our winners on their achievements this week," said Saudi Arabian Motor Federation president Mishaal Al-Sudairy. "Our event continues to go from strength to strength and we look forward to further expansion and innovation in 2010."