HAIL — The Nissan crew of Faris Al-Mashna and Saud Al-Taimi were the sensational leaders of the Hail Nissan International Rally after firm favorite and five-time winner Yazeed Al-Rajhi was forced to retire his Hummer from the first of the desert selective sections on Monday.
Al-Mashna and Al-Taimi reached the overnight halt in their Nissan Patrol with an advantage of 1min 45sec over the Nissan crew of fellow Saudi Arabians, Mutair and Hani Matar Al-Shammeri.
The Japanese manufacturer filled eight of the unofficial top 10 places in the overall standings, with Meshal and Bander Hamed Al-Saeedi holding third place. Al-Saeedi also completed a clean sweep of the honors for Nissan with the lead in the T2 category for series production cross-country vehicles.
Mohammed Al-Tuwaijri failed to restart after finishing the super special in seventh position and Dubai’s Rashid Al-Kitbi, who had been running second on the super special stage on his first ever cross-county rally, succumbed to gearbox issues in his Dodge Viper V8-engined BMW X6.
Ahmed Al-Gashami also retired and was joined on the growing list of drivers not able to complete the stage by Abdullah Al-Kutubi and Saleh Abdulah Abdulali, who rolled his T1 Nissan heavily.
The rally is being held under the patronage of Prince Saud Bin Abdul Mohsen Bin Abdul Aziz, Governor of Hail, president of the Supreme Commission for Hail Development and the Head of the Supreme Commission of the Hail Rally.
On Tuesday, competitors tackle a varied and demanding special stage of 302.08km that starts at Baqa’a and finishes back at the desert town, before a road liaison returns crews to Hail. —SG
