2007 FIA International Cup for Bajas, official candidate event
HAIL (Saudi Arabia): The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is set to enter the world of international motorsport for the first time, following today’s announcement that the Hail Saudi Baja will become an official candidate event for the FIA International Cup for Bajas.
The event will take place near Hail in northern Saudi Arabia on February 8th-11th, 2007 and will be organised by the Saudi Motor Sports Committee (SMSC), with the support of Hail Development Authority and under the patronage of the Governor of Hail, HRH Prince Saud bin Abdul Mohsin Bin Abdul Aziz.
The Hail Saudi Baja ran for the first time last February and will be observed by the FIA next February for future inclusion in an international FIA championship. “This is fantastic news for all concerned,” said Mishaal Fahad Al-Sudairy, Chairman of the Organising Committee. “We have been aiming for this for quite a while now. The goal is to put motorsport in Saudi Arabia on the FIA international map”.
“Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Middle East region and, as yet, has not been represented at FIA international level in any form of motorsport,” said Derek Ledger, FIA Vice-President and Head of the FIA Middle East Commission. “There is a strong team of officials and enthusiasts behind the event and this is a major breakthrough for the sport in the entire Middle East region.
“The last event was well attended, offered a challenging route format and was well received. I am fully confident that the organising team can build upon this and take the Hail Saudi Baja to even greater heights in the future.
The Kingdom has fabulous terrain for Cross-Country rallying and I am sure that the event will use these areas to give it its own unique challenge”.
Wallid Mihyar will act as Event Director and Clerk of the Course for a second successive year. Jordanian Mihyar has previously worked in a similar capacity in the Syria and Oman international rallies, rounds of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship.
The event will be based at Hail in northern Saudi Arabia and is set to offer in the region of 450 competitive kilometres in the surrounding deserts. There will be two timed legs, with approximately 260 kilometres of competition for leg one and 190 kilometres for leg two, in the region around Jubba Bir Al Alim, An Nafud and Al Kabir.
Hail is a famous historic oasis town in Saudi Arabia and is located along the famous Darb Zubaydah caravan route that brought pilgrim caravans from Mesopotamia, Iran and Central Asia to Mecca and Medina.
Motorsport and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have strong links without the country ever hosting an event of this scale before. Mohammed Al-Malki was one of the first Saudi drivers to tackle off-road events and rounds of the FIA Middle East rally series, before Jeddah’s Mamdouh Khayyat became the first Saudi driver to win the regional rally series in 1992.
Khayyat’s success spurred several drivers to take up the sport and Ahmed Al-Sabban has been a regular driver in regional rallying since making his debut in the Gulf Oil team back in 1993. But the most successful of all the Saudi drivers was Abdullah Bakhashab, who went on to win the Middle East title in a Toyota and represented the country in both the FIA World Rally Championship and the UAE Desert Challenge.
Bakhashab is now a well known figure in Middle East motorsport circles and was the brainchild behind the Toyota RAV-4 Challenge to find promising up and coming rally drivers from Saudi Arabia. Several of them have gone on to tackle events across the Middle East and are sure to be avid supporters of the Hail Saudi Baja 2007.
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2007/01/25
Organisers announce strong commercial support
Organisers of the 2007 Hail Saudi Baja, the most important motor sporting event in the history of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, are putting the finishing touches to the FIA-sanctioned candidate event now that entries have officially closed.
The three-day Baja is being organised by the Saudi Motor Sports Committee (SMSC) and takes place between February 9th-11th, under the patronage of the Governor of Hail, HRH Prince Saud bin Abdul Mohsin Bin Abdul Aziz, and with the full support of Hail Development Authority.
This event marks Saudi Arabia’s first entry into top level international motorsport since Middle East rallying was first established in other parts of the Gulf region in the late 1970s. It comes on the back of months of hard work by Saudi officials and regional FIA staff.
The event is being run with the support of the General Headquarters for Youth Welfare and the Higher Association for Tourism and has attracted many of the Middle East’s regular rally competitors and a number of leading Saudi crews keen to follow in the footsteps of former Saudi Arabian FIA Middle East rally champions Abdullah Bakhashab and Mamdouh Khayyat and regular Saudi competitors Ahmed Al Sabban and Prince Khalid Bin Faisal.
The 2007 Hail Saudi Baja has received crucial support from the Rakeeza Company, the main development arm of the Abdul-Aziz Ben Mussa’ed Economic Centre in Hail, with the full support of His Highness Prince Abdullah Bin Khaled Bin Abdullah Mussa’ed, Chairman of the Higher Commission for the Development of the Hail Province and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Hail Saudi Baja.
A fleet of local companies have pledged to support Saudi Arabia’s new motorsport venture, which permits drivers of FIA T1 and T2 cars to tackle two days’ of high-speed action in the remote deserts around the scenic city in the north of Saudi Arabia, preceded by a timed ‘super-special’ stage in Hail.
In addition to receiving support from the Rakeeza Company, the Hail Saudi Baja has agreed a new partnership with the Al-Maraa’i Company, the Saudi Basic Industries Company (SABIC), publicity from the Iqtisadiah newspapers – on behalf of the Saudi Group for Research and Publishing – and Al-Rasheed Engineering. The Hail-based event also receives the backing of the MBC television broadcasting network.
“I would like to thank the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and His Highness the Crown Prince for their approval to conduct the Hail Saudi Baja 2007 on a regular basis,” said His Highness Prince Abdullah Bin Khaled Bin Abdullah Mussae’ed. “I would also like to thank His Royal Highness Prince Saud Bin Abdul-Muhsen Bin Abdul-Aziz for giving the support of the Hail Province to our new venture and to our local sponsors and partners for giving this event a sound footing for success”.
“We are indebted to a number of people, who have made this event possible and I would like to thank them,” said Mishaal Fahad Al-Sudairy, Chairman of the Organising Committee. “The Hail Saudi Baja is an excellent platform to support the skills and progress of the youth of Saudi Arabia, as well as to confirm the integration between the public and private sectors”.
Al-Sudairy also confirmed that the list of sponsors for the Hail Saudi Baja include Safra Power and Yamama Cement, while the Toyota Landcruiser has been adopted as the official car of the event, following crucial support from Toyota.
The Ahli Commercial Bank, Saudi Airways and Bison, the official energy drink of the Hail Saudi Baja, have also pledged invaluable support.
“We are convinced that the Hail Saudi Baja will promote tourism in the Hail region and encourage people to visit the province,” insisted Al-Sudairy. “We ran a test event last year and were staggered by the number of spectators.
Motorsport is extremely popular in Saudi Arabia and we are sure that spectators will attend the event at the start of February in very large numbers”.
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