JEDDAH: Three Omani drivers will compete in Saudi International rally this weekend Jeddah in Saudi Arabia will host for the first time this weekend the third round of Middle East rally championship, where Jeddah stages will be new tracks and fresh for competitors who have never participated in a Saudi Rally before as part of Merc.
Omani participation in this round will be a triple, with Abdullah al Rawahi and his new English co-driver Ross Whittock driving a Skoda Fabia, while Abdullah al Zubair and his co-driver Taha Soomar will be driving a Subaru Impreza (N14), and Zakariya al Amri and his co-driver Mohammed al Mazrui will be driving a Subaru Impreza (N14) with the aim of continuing to lead group ( N) category of the championship.
Six stages, three of which will be held on Friday and will be repeated twice, while on Saturday there will be three new stages near Jeddah and they will also be repeated twice. The competition will be strong for the lead in the rally between the current championship leader, Qatari driver Nasser al Attiyah, Abdullah al Rawahi and Qatari Abdulaziz al Kuwari.
As these stages are new to all competitors, everyone will be keen to register their names on the honour roll of the first place winners of the first rally in Saudi Arabia in the Middle East rally calendar. The rally may witness the birth of a new name as champion, although all the nominations do not leave out the well-known names, most known Nasser al Attiyah, Abdullah al Rawahi, Abdulaziz al Kuwari and the Finnish driver Juho Hanninen.
Al Rawahi said, "This is a round being held for the first time and there are new stages for all of us. We must be ready for everything, especially since I am participating with a new co-driver and I expect stiff competition from the big names, especially Nasser al Attiyah. We must prepare intensively because the rally is unknown and we have not participated in it before. Our goal and target now is to compete for the lead and collect the most number of points.
Competitor Abdullah al Zubair is also participating with his Navigator Taha Soomar, aiming to improve his position in the overall ( N ) category classification. Al Zubair had a strong race in the 2025 Oman International Rally in Suhar, while he faced a car problem in the Qatar International Rally, where he lost many points on his way to the lead.
Zakariya al Amri and Mohammed al Mazrui both looking forward to enhancing their lead of the group and hoping to end the rally with top points.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
