Yazeed Al Rajhi clinched an emphatic victory in the 2012 Saudi Arabia Ha’il Desert Challenge after the final 148.71km special stage in the An Nafud desert on Friday.
Leading by an amended 15min 52.5sec when original results were re-examined at the overnight halt, Al Rajhi managed to fulfil his goal of winning Saudi Arabia’s premier off-road event for the third time.
“I am delighted to win this rally for the third time,” said Al Rajhi.
“I have now won five rallies out of five attempts at events in Saudi Arabia (three Ha’il and two Sharqia rallies). I enjoyed the stage today. We had a puncture at the very start yesterday, but everything was perfect today.”
Frenchman Thierry Magnaldi finished second overall while Saudi Arabia’s
Mtair and Abdullah Al Shammeri completed the podium.
The UAE’s Yayha Al Helei slipped to eighth position while Qatar’s Sheikh Hamad bin Eid Al Thani’s retired on Thursday with clutch problems.
The second leg began at the later time of 14.15hrs and Al Rajhi led the surviving teams into the varied 148.71km special between As Sufun and Kna and began to pull away from Magnaldi.
Al Saeedi managed to overtake both Al Shammeri and Al Helei to snatch a virtual third place through the rocky opening sections of the stage. Al Helei stopped soon afterwards with technical issues.
As the terrain became more open and sandier, Al Rajhi and Magnaldi continued to edge away from the rest of the field before the former crossed the finish line.
Al Rajhi later announced that he will take part in the Sealine Cross-Country Rally in Qatar next month at the wheel of a Mini All4 Racing.
