Qatar International Rally, February 3-5, 2011
2011 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), round 1 of 7
For immediate release
Sunday, January 30th, 2011
JORDAN’S AMMAR HIJAZI SET TO DEBUT NEW
SKODA IN 2011 QATAR INTERNATIONAL RALLY
· Lebanon’s Joseph Matar set for co-driving role with Hijazi
· Al-Mimari Est. for Trade & Industry supports new Skoda
AMMAN (Jordan): Jordanian rally driver Ammar Hijazi will debut his new Skoda Fabia S2000 in next weekend’s Qatar International Rally, round one of the 2011 FIA Middle East Rally Championship. The event takes place over challenging timed gravel stages in the Qatar desert on February 4-5.
Hijazi has been a regular on the Middle East rally scene in recent years and has pieced together a deal to run the exciting new Skoda Fabia S2000 for the first time in the regional series. S2000 cars have dominated the podium positions in recent rallies in the Middle East and Hijazi is relishing the prospect of challenging for the podium in Qatar.
The car runs with the full support of Hijazi’s Amman-based company Al Mimari Est. for Trade & Industry. It has been supplied by top Lebanese rally driver Roger Feghali, who will run the Czech car under his Motor Tune banner in Qatar.
Hijazi will be partnered by the experienced Lebanese co-driver Joseph Matar, the winning co-driver in the 2009 Pirelli Star Driver category alongside youngster Nick Georgiou. Last season Matar and Georgiou tackled select rounds of the FIA World Rally Championship as part of their Pirelli prize.
“The Skoda is a strong, competitive car and our team is really looking forward to using it for the first time in the Qatar International Rally,” said Hijazi, who also confirmed he will tackle the Kuwait, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Dubai rounds of the 2011 regional championship.”
The Jordanian faces fierce competition over the two days of gravel special stages, with recent Dakar Rally winner Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah heading the international entry in his Ford Fiesta S2000.
The UAE’s Sheikh Abdullah Al-Qassimi also drives one of the S2000 Fords, while there is strong local competition from the likes of defending regional champion Misfer Al-Marri, Khalid Al-Suwaidi, Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, Mubarak Al-Hajri and the 1993 FIA Middle East rally champion Sheikh Hamed Bin Eid Al-Thani.
Hijazi is one of two Jordanian entrants in the 2011 Qatar International Rally. Nancy Al-Majali teams up with Nadia Shnoudeh in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and is seeded at the tail of the entry list at number 24.
Ends
Neil Perkins, NDP Publicity Services, UK Mobile: + 44 7831 123153, E-mail: NDPPublicity@googlemail.com, www.ndp-publicity.com (press releases)