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THE
QATAR Motor Federation (QMF) announced today that
the 28th Qatar International Rally will be the opening round
of the 2003 FIA Middle East Rally Championship and will take
place on February 27th/28th.
Ulsterman
Malcolm Neill has been appointed as the new Clerk of the Course
this year. Neill has worked on numerous rallying-related projects
around the world and was an integral member of the team which
has taken the Rally of Turkey into the FIA World Rally Championship
for the first time this year. He was also clerk of the course
of last September's Jordan International Rally.
The Qatar
International Rally is a loose surface special stage rally
and was the traditional opening round of the FIA Middle East
regional series until 1993, when it was replaced by the Abu
Dhabi-based UAE International Rally. It returned to its place
at the start of the championship last year when the UAE Rally
was cancelled.
The two-day
Qatar event features 19 timed stages in the Qatar desert and
begins at 09.15 on Thursday, February 27th. The finish is
scheduled for 16.30 on Friday at the Ritz Carlton Hotel.
The opening
leg of the 2003 Qatar Rally will feature a 'super special'
and a further nine timed desert stages, separated by several
service breaks. Friday's action offers a further eight desert
tests and a repeat of Thursday's short 'super special'.
The organising
team at the Qatar Motor Federation are now putting the finishing
touches to the route and timetable and are looking forward
to welcoming the region's finest drivers.
General
Secretary of the Qatar Motor Federation, Sadoon Al-Kuwari,
said: "We have planned an excellent route for this year's
rally. Entries have been flooding in from Kuwait, the UAE,
Bahrain, Europe and Australia and we are proud to have been
chosen to kick-start this year's Middle East rally championship.
Qatar is always a difficult rally. The deserts are rocky and
the risk of flat tyres is high. It is one of the most difficult
events to predict."
Among
the early entries received by the QMF is one from the former
regional champion Abdullah Bakhashab. The Saudi driver is
expected to challenge for the overall title this season in
his new Peugeot 206 WRC, the car which won last year's World
Rally Championship crown for Manufacturers and gave Finland's
Marcus Gronholm a second world title in the space of three
years. The event marks the first time that a Peugeot 206 WRC
will have been seen on a Middle East rally.
Bakhashab
teams up with Ulster's Bobby Willis and will also oversee
the progress of a pair of Toyota Rav-4s running behind the
field of international drivers. Willis took part in the recent
Dakar Rally across North Africa and finished sixth overall
with the Belgian driver Stephane Henrard.
Bakhashab
faces competition from the likes of last year's series runner-up
Sheikh Abdullah Al-Qassimi and his brother Sheikh Khaled Al-Qassimi,
the winner of the 2003 Group N category.
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