Jordan: FIA Middle East rally championship

Khalid al-Qassimi triumphs in Jordan Rally

12/5/2007
DEAD SEA: The UAE's Sheikh Khalid al-Qassimi and British co-driver Nick Beech clinched a famous victory after 18 timed special stages of a pulsating Jordan Rally in the Dead Sea area of the Hashemite Kingdom yesterday.
They entered the final stage 16.9 seconds behind Jordanian rallying newcomer Amir Najjar and co-driver Nicola Fanous, but the Jordanian dramatically crashed mid-way through the Dead Sea and Al-Qassimi was handed a dramatic win in thrilling circumstances.
Al-Qassimi duly took maximum FIA Middle East rally championship points in his Subaru Impreza WRX STi and extended his lead in the eight-round series to six points over second-placed Jordanians Amjad Farrah and Nicola Arena. Farrah has fallen away from a thrilling two-way battle for victory over the closing stages.
Some of the day's rallying action had royal approval and was witnessed by a visiting King Abdullah bin al-Hussein II, his wife Queen Rania al-Abdullah and Prince Feisal bin al-Hussein, chairman of Jordan Motorsport.
"The priority for me was to finish the rally and take maximum points in the championship," said Al-Qassimi.
"That was the objective and we have fulfilled that in a fantastic way. Now I am in a very strong position to win the title for the second time. The outcome is in my own hands. The pressure will be on Nasser not to make a mistake on the next four rallies."
"I thought that the best strategy was to push as hard as I could this morning and put my rivals under pressure," said 31-year-old Najjar, who is a sprint and hillclimb champion tackling his third ever rally.
Amjad Farrah and Nicola Arena began the day in third place and lost touch with the two-way battle for the lead as the day wore on. But the 2004
Jordan Rally winner moved up to second in the championship with his second overall.
Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah was fastest on all eight special stages of leg two and climbed seven places in the overall standings, but his confidence-boosting drive failed to net any championship points.

Final positions after SS18 (unofficial): 1. Sheikh Khalid al-Qassimi (UAE)/Nick Beech (GB) Subaru Impreza WRX STi 3h 17m 44.7s; 2. Amjad Farrah (HKJ)/Nicola Arena (I) Mit Evolution IX 3h 18m 56.4s; 3. Sheikh Abdullah al-Qassimi (UAE)/Steve Lancaster (GB) Subaru Impreza WRX STi 3h 24m 41.6s; 4. Michel Saleh (RL)/Ziad Chehab (RL) Subaru Impreza WRX STi 3h 24m 51.3s; 5. Abdulaziz al-Kuwari (QA)/Nasser al-Kuwari (QA) Mit Evolution IX 3h 28m 22.5s; 6. Andreas Tsouloftas (CY)/Savvas Laos (CY) Mit Evolution IX 3h 30m 46.0s; 7. Misfer al-Marri (QA)/Hamad Al-Marri (QA) Subaru Impreza WRX STi 3h 31m 36.1s; 8. Majed al-Ghamdi (KSA)/Yousef al-Asmar (HKJ) Subaru Impreza WRX STi 3h 36m 10.0s; 9. Salah Bin-Eidan (KWT)/Abdulaziz Redhai (KWT) Mit Evo IX 3h 38m 05.8s; 10. Andreas Wimmer (AUT)/Michael Kolbach (D) Subaru Impreza WRX STi 3h 39m 27.6s

(Source: Gulf Times)