Friday 20 / September / 2024
Muscat: Young rally driver Haitham Khalid Soomar on Mitsubishi Evo 7with co-driver Wail Al Shibani won the first round of Oman Rally championship. They finished 6 special stages at Al Misfah and Saal town in a total time of one hour and eight minutes and fifty-nine seconds. Meanwhile, Faisal Al-Rashidi on Subaru Impreza N 12 with Navigator Waleed Al Rashidi came second with a difference of just one second behind Haitham Soomar.
Third place went to the legend Nizar Al Shanfari on Can Am with his co- driver from the UAE Ali Mirza, Hamed Al-Qasmini on Evo 8 came fourth at the end of the rally and Mohamad Al-Shanfari on Yamaha Polaris finished fifth, the German driver Azar Pey on Can Am ended the rally in sixth position.
Abduallah Al-Zubair on Nissan Patrol and Issam Al-Kharusi on Quad and Musab Soomar on Kia Rio were the 3 remaining drivers who finished the rally on Friday.
Due to some technical issues, 6 divers left the rally early. Some of them left the rally in late stages. Abdullah Al-Rawahi after topping the list in the first stage at Al Misfah with the fastest time, left the rally in the second stage at Saal after a small accident. He was one of the names expected to win the rally, and the same happened with Jarrah Al Toqi who left the rally due to a technical issue.
Rally driver Zakriya Al Aufi was forced to leave the rally after a broken suspension, and another driver was forced to leave the rally due to a broken wheel. Zakria Al Almri left the rally at stage 5.
After finishing all the 6 stages, Brigadier retired Salim Ali Al Maskari, Chairman of board of directors Oman Automobile Association, distributed the winning trophies at Al Misfah. He appreciated the participants' and the effort of all the drivers and the organisers to join this rally after a long gap due to the COVID pandemic. He stated that all the precautions have been taken in view of this pandemic.
Haitham Soomar, said: "Happy to win this title for the first time in my life and thanks for all the support and especially to my mechanic." Meanwhile, Faisal Al Rashidi appreciated the support of sponsors Al Madina Takaful and Oil field inspection services and wished all the success for his colleagues next time.
The next round of Oman rally championship will be held in December during the Oman International rally and round four is expected to be organised in Duqm in the same month.
