By Neil Perkins

HAIL — Saudi Arabian driver Khalid Al-Feraihi and his French navigator Sébastien Delaunay were the leaders of the 14th Hail Nissan International Rally after the first desert stage Sunday morning.

The Nissan Patrol driver carded a time of 2hrs 10min 28.9sec and that put him 3min 39.6sec in front of second-placed Essa Al-Dossari in his ED Racing Nissan Navara. The day’s stage ran for 189km and featured mainly sandy tracks and small dunes.

French navigator Delaunay is tackling the event for the fourth time. The leading co-driver said: “It is the first time together with me and Khalid. There was some quite difficult navigation and a lot of camel grass on the side of the track. You had to take care with the line. The dunes were not so soft and the cooler temperatures helped a lot. There were some very fast sandy sections. We pushed today. Tomorrow is a long stage and we have to do things differently, I guess.”

ED Racing’s Emirati driver Abdullah Al-Heraiz suffered rear axle problems and lost his place inside the top three. He slipped to seventh overall and his place in the top three was taken by Ahmed Al-Shuhail, who set the fourth quickest time of the day in another Nissan.

Saudi Arabia’s Muneef Al-Salmani maintained ninth overall and the lead of the T2 category for series production cross-country vehicles in his Nissan Patrol. Veteran Abu Dhabi driver Yayha Al-Helai rolled his Nissan out of contention.

The UAE’s Khaled Al-Jafla moved ahead in the T3 category and held 10th overall in his Can-Am. Saleh Al-Saif lost his UTV lead and second in the general classification after stopping 35km into the stage with drive belt issues.

The 2014 event winner Ibrahim Al-Muhanna completed his first ever desert cross-country stage in the T4 Mercedes truck in a time of just over three hours.

Abdulmajeed Aboud snatched a two-second advantage over fellow Saudi rider Abdulmajeed Al-Khulaifi in the four-man quad battle. Khalifa Jassim Al-Raisi held third, but Abdulsalem Hamam lost time on the stage and slipped out of contention.

Sultan Al-Balooshi hit the front in the two-wheel motorcycle category with the fastest time. The defending champion now has a comfortable cushion over fellow Emirati Mohammed Al-Shamsi. Ali Al-Balooshi and Abdullah bin Dakhan are third and fourth.

The 14th edition of the event is being organized by the Ha’il Regional Development Authority in co-operation with the General Authority for Tourism and National Heritage and the General Authority for Sport. It is being held under the patronage of Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Saud, Governor of Hail and President of the Supreme Commission for Hail Development.

After a run out of 99.92km from rally HQ on Monday morning, cars and drivers face a punishing second selective section of 351.04km that starts in Radifah and finishes at the desert village of Umm Al Qulban. Motorcycles and quads will tackle two shorter timed sections of 49.04km each.