Hit the pedal to the metal — Rally Jeddah excites fans, ends on a high gear

For sports enthusiasts, the two-day Rally Jeddah was another high water mark in the history of the sport in the Kingdom.

Too bad, Saudi rally ace and top seed, Yazeed Al-Rajhi, with his German navigator, Timo Gottschalk, withdrew at the last minute to end his bid for a hat-trick of victories in his home event.

Instead, Qatar’s Adel Hussein Abdulla rode his experience in this year’s FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies to seal an uncontested victory in the prestigious event that ended in Saudi Arabia’s western deserts on Friday evening.

“It was a very difficult and challenging rally and probably more difficult than some of the rounds of this year’s FIA World Cup,” said Abdulla.

“It was never easy to see the defined tracks and it was a big task. I am so happy to share the win with Sebastien. There was strong entry here, with many local drivers.”

The Nissan Patrol driver and his French navigator, Sebastien Delaunay, stayed out of trouble and kept to the challenging route to finish 10 min. 49 sec. ahead of the experienced local driver, Ibrahim Al-Muhanna, also driving a Nissan.

The two drivers were the best in the 31-car field, in which only three cars retired and all except three teams received heavy time penalties for route violations.

Last year’s T2 winner, Monef Al-Salmani, retained his crown by finishing third; Saudi driver, Ahmed Al-Shegawi, with Emirati navigator, Arif Yousef Mohammed, were fourth and Mohammed Al-Saeri rounded off the unofficial top five with co-driver Ziad Al-Harbi.

The UAE’s Atif Al-Zarouni recovered well from his super special problems on Thursday evening to finish ninth overall and first in T3.

Kuwait’s Meshari Al-Thafiri was second in T3 and 15th overall, while overnight leader Khalid Al-Mohannadi finished 23rd and third in the category.

Abu Dhabi-based Lebanese driver Emil Khneisser was one of the retirements, while Saleh Al-Abdulali also blotted his copybook by badly damaging Yazeed Al-Rajhi’s Hummer in a crash.

Rajah Farhan Al-Shammeri was the third retirement after the Saudi rolled heavily without injury to himself or navigator Mubarak Farhan Al-Shammeri.