DOHA: Young Omani rally driver Jarrah al Toqi with his navigator Issa al Wardi have clinched the first place in national category in Qatar international rally. Another Omani driver Zakaria al Amri with co-driver Abdullah al Amri won the second place in the rally which was organised around Qatar for three days last week.
Qatari international champion Nasser al Attiyah won the International overall title after leading the rally in all 11 stages.
Another Omani youngster Abdullah al Rawahi finished the rally fifth in Group N.
Because of technical problems and mostly broken in shock observer, five other Omani drivers left the rally early. Zakaria al Aufi ended his participation from the super special stage because of gearbox problem, meanwhile Humaid al Waili’s campaign ended early on the second day due to technical problem.
Said al Harthi on Evo 10 with navigator Said al Hinai quit the rally on the last day as his car’s shock observer was in the first stage after 500 metre from the start, during the second day. English driver Shaun, who lives in Oman, also quit as his car was not ready after maintenance on the last day.
5 OMANI DRIVERS RETIRE
Omani driver Hamid al Qasimi and co-driver Yaqdhan al Rashidi left the rally during the final stage as a small fire caught his car engine, which ended his dream to reach the podium in Souq Waqif in the capital Doha.
The first day of the rally was for opening ceremony and super special stage, where Nasser al Attiyah was the fastest on polo car and the second day consisted of two stages, repeated two times in Al Ruwais and Al Ghariya.
Jarrah al Toqi led the local rally drivers on day two followed by Zakaria al Amri and Hamid al Qasimi, who quit after a broken arm of the car.
Young driver Abdullah al Rawahi quit with broken shock observer.
Meanwhile, Saif al Harthi continued the rally for next day and Abdullah and Hamid went for super rally after maintenance works on their cars in the service area.
Final day of rally was organised in Al Khor area where three stages were repeated two times in Al Arida, Al Dhakhaira and Al Khor for nearly of 20 kilometres each. In this stage, Abdullah al Rawahi showed good pace during the early three stages to compete with ‘Group S’ cars, but later he had the arm of the car broken which forced him to slowdown on way to finish point.
Saif al Harthi was forced for an early retirement during the day.
Meanwhile, Jarrah, Zakaria and Hamid were competing to gain the top place at the end of the day. Zakaria had won some stages and lost the last one and Jarrah had won two stages.
JARRAH THANKS OAA
After finishing the rally and reaching the top podium, Jarrah al Toqi expressed his appreciation to Oman Automobile Association (OAA) and the Qatari organisers for their support to attend the rally. He said: “I am very happy to win the local rally in Qatar this year and many thanks goes to my co-driver Issa al Wardi for his support during the rally. In addition to that, the rally was difficult and needed a lot of concentration during stages as few drivers left early but we continued and made it to the end to finish on top.”
Second place winner Zakaria al Amri stated that this is his first time in Qatar rally and finishing on podium was as if a dream for him despite all the technical problems faced the team during the 11 stages. “I will continue now in Oman and the UAE championships. Big thanks to OAA for their kind attention given to rally drivers,” Zakaria said.
Abdullah al Rawahi on Impresa N14 said that the rally was new experience for him on new terrain in the Middle East, which has enhanced his rally career for better future in driving and navigation. Al Rawahi, while appreciating the support of co-driver Atta Hammoud, said he will work hard to reach the podiums soon.
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