HAIL: Saudi Arabia's Hail Rally (Hail Baja) gets under way with a timed 6.5 km prologue stage on the outskirts of Hail City in the north-central region of the Kingdom today afternoon.
The Kingdom's premier off-road motor sport event has attracted 30 starters, with the Czech driver Miroslav Zapletal topping the list of overseas participants issued by the Saudi Arabian Motor Federation (SAMF) at a pre-event press conference here yesterday.
The bulk of the competitive action will take place in the Ar Nafud desert to the north of Hail tomorrow (Wednesday) and Thursday, with teams set to tackle 499.50 competitive kilometers in a route of 823.24 km. The event is being organized under the patronage of Prince Saud Bin Abdul Mohsen, governor of Hail, president of the Supreme Commission for Hail Development and the head of the Supreme Commission of the Hail Rally.
This year's ceremonial start will take place at the Maghwat Conference facility at 3.30 p.m. today and competitors will head straight into the 6.5 km Prologue stage from 3.44 p.m.. The result of this opening competitive action will determine the starting order for the entry into the Nafud desert.
Leg one of the 2009 Hail Baja starts at 7.45 a.m. tomorrow morning, with teams set to tackle a challenging 305km selective section through the remote wastelands and expansive dunes of the Ar Nafud desert to the north of Hail. The section starts after a liaison section of 61 km and a 94.85 km transit brings crews back to Maghwat. Event officials have added a refueling stop at the 200.10 km point.
For Thursday's second leg, teams leave parc ferme in Maghwat at 8.00 a.m. and a 50.39 km liaison takes crews to the start of a second 187.7 km selective section through the desert. A 117.50 km liaison brings teams back to Maghwat and the official ceremonial finish is planned for 5.35 p.m.
Last weekend's Qatar International Rally runner-up Yazeed Al-Rajhi tops the local entry of 22 cars. He has recruited the services of Belgium's Overdrive Racing to supply a powerful Nissan Navara for his first ever Baja-type rally challenge and will be able to call upon the services of French co-driver Matthieu Baumel to assist his challenge for honors. Baumel finished ninth overall in the recent Dakar Rally in an X-raid BMW X3 CC and won last year's Hail Saudi Baja alongside Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah.
"I know that this is going to be very different to rallying," said Al-Rajhi with a hint of trepidation. "I will be relying on my co-driver to show me the way and I will have to learn quickly how to read the dunes and the tracks and not take any risks while I learn how to drive the car."
Saudi Arabia's Majed Al-Ghamdi and Abdullah Al-Dossari will form a two-car team of Isuzu D-Max turbo-diesel-engined cars that were built in Italy. Al-Ghamdi was one of the original young local drivers to be nurtured in the regional rally series by former FIA Middle East champion Abdullah Bakhashab and he will benefit from the experience of Italian co-driver Nicola Arena on the road book. Arena is better known for his rallying exploits with Jordan's Amjad Farrah in the region's special stage championship, while Ghamdi finished a fine second overall in the T2 category of the FIA International Cup for Bajas at his first attempt in 2007.
Other front-running local drivers are likely to include Ahmed Al-Sheqawi, Farhan Al-Ghaleb and a host of entrants from the local Al-Shammeri family, which took victory in the inaugural Hail Baja in 2006 and repeated the feat in 2007, with Rajeh Al-Shammeri winning the first ever international status motor sport event in the Kingdom in his Toyota Land Cruiser.
Top 12 starters: Miroslav Zapletal (CZ)/Tomas Ourednicek (CZ) Mitsubishi Pajero, Hamed Bin Eid Al-Thani (QA)/George Sarayan (AUS) Nissan Patrol, Majed Al-Ghamdi (KSA)/Nicola Arena (I) Izuzu D-Max, Yazeed Al-Rajhi (KSA)/Matthieu Baumel (F) Nissan Navara, Ahmed Al-Sheqawi (KSA)/Suhail Al-Ali (UAE) Nissan Patrol, Abdullah Al-Herais (UAE)/Abdulhaleem Bin Zayed (UAE) Nissan Patrol, David Mabbs (GB)/Xavier Caminada (F) Toyota FJ Cruiser,
Mark Powell (GB)/Paul Richards (GB) Honda Buggy, Mafadi Al-Shammeri (KSA)/Mohd Al-Shammeri (KSA), Toyota Land Cruiser, Mubarak A-Shammeri (KSA)/Yaser Al-Shammeri (KSA) Mitsubishi Pajero, Abdullah Al-Dossari (KSA)/Ali Al-Saiyari (KSA) Isuzu D-Max and Ian Barker (GB)/Lee Marshal (GB) Nissan Patrol.
