HA’IL NISSAN INTERNATIONAL RALLY – April 2-5, 2017
For immediate release
Monday, April 3rd, 2017
SAUDI’S AL-MASHNA AND AL-TAIMI LEAD HA’IL
NISSAN INTERNATIONAL RALLY AFTER DAY ONE
· Oil cooler issues force Yazeed Al-Rajhi to retire his Hummer from Ha’il Rally
HA’IL (Saudi Arabia): The Nissan crew of Faris Al-Mashna and Saud Al-Taimi were the sensational leaders of the Ha’il Nissan International Rally after firm favourite and five-time winner Yazeed Al-Rajhi was forced to retire his Hummer from the first of the desert selective sections on Monday.
Mashna and Saud 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 honours 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 His Royal Highness Prince Saud Bin Abdul Mohsen Bin Abdul Aziz, Governor of Ha’il, President of the Supreme Commission for Ha’il Development and the Head of the Supreme Commission of the Ha’il Rally.
Tomorrow (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 Ha’il.
Ha'il Nissan International Rally – positions after SS1 (unofficial @ 15.00hrs):
1. Faris Al-Mashna (SAU)/Saud Al-Taimi (SAU) Nissan 3hr 33min 05sec
2. Mutair Al-Shammeri (SAU)/Hani Al-Shammeri (SAU) Nissan 3hr 34min 50sec
3. Meshal Saud Al-Saeedi (SAU)/Bander Al-Saeedi (SAU) Nissan 3hr 42min 18sec
4. Ahmed Abdullah Al-Shehail (SAU)/Rasheed Mslet (SAU) Nissan 3hr 43min 16sec
5. Salman Al-Shammeri (SAU)/Nawaf Al-Onazi (SAU) Toyota 3hr 44min 57sec
6. Sami Talab Al-Shammeri (SAU)/Abdullah Al-Shammeri (SAU) Nissan 3hr 45min 40sec
7. Muneef Al-Salmani (SAU)/Ali Al-Sayari (SAU) Nissan T2 3hr 46min 31sec
8. Mutab Saud Al-Shammeri (SAU)/Waleed Al-Fuaim (SAU) Nissan 3hr 47min 45sec
Ends
For further media information, contact, Audrey Graham, NDP Publicity Services, E-mail: askaudreygraham@gmail.com