JEDDAH, 20 June 2003 — Organizers of Toyota Race of Champions (TROC) have postponed the launch of the third edition of the event that was to be featured during the upcoming Jeddah Summer Festival (JSF), due to a conflict of dates, following the rescheduling of both Lebanon and Jordan international rallies for this season.
The event was expected to take place during the JSF in the second half of July right after Lebanon International Rally — the third round of Middle East Championship for Rallies. “However, due to the Iraq crisis FIA decided to reschedule the launch of Jordan International Rally — the second round — to the end of July from mid-May.
“The rescheduling conflicts with Toyota Race of Champions and would have embarrassed its organizers, as most of Arabian rally drivers are signed up to participate in both Lebanon and Jordan rallies. That is why we chose not to include Toyota Race of Champions in the JSF,” the organizers explained.
“After obtaining the official support and approval of Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed to launch the third edition of the TROC, we expect it to be of the highest level with wide local, regional and international participations,” TROC General Organizer Abdullah Bakhashab said.
“The postponement of the race was beyond our control and mainly due to the rescheduling of Middle East Championship for Rallies race, though we had already started our preparations for the great event that enjoys vast admiration of sponsoring companies,” Bakhashab said. “We’re planning to organize another event which will be of great surprise to Jeddah, especially to sport and excitement lovers.”
In the first edition of TROC, 22 Arabian rally drivers participated and the titles were won by the Fadhali brothers — Roger getting the title of Race of Champions and his younger brother Abdo the title of Race of Professionals.
In the second edition of the race last year, 30 rally drivers participated including Austrian rally driver Akim Mortel, Roger Fadhali — winner of the Race of Champions title for the second time in a row, and Qatari driver Naser Al Atyyah — winner of the Race of Professionals title.
