Dubai: Mark Bowel and Gary Wheeler celebrated the re-start of the rallying season with a win in the inaugural round of the 2011 UAE Rally Championship on Friday.
Bowel and Wheeler drove their Predator in a time of one hour, 22.28 minutes over the four stages totalling 95km held off the Al Ruawayya area of Al Ain to usher in the re-start of rallying in the UAE that had been stalled since 2008.
The winners were followed by the UAE duo of Ali Hassan and Ali Dadi in their Nissan Patrol with a time of 1:30.41, while David Mabbs and Andrew Robinson completed the podium in their Toyota Landcruiser with a time of 1:32.50.
Salim Rashid and Mohammad Al Faqih (1:47.07) finished the rally in fourth in their Toyota Landcruiser, while Ebrahim Al Muhanna and Suhail Al Ali finished in fifth in their Nissan Patrol with a time of 1:47.20.
Top tussle
Favourites and former UAE champions Shaikh Suhail Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum and Shaikh Abdullah Al Qasimi who were expected to tussle for the top spot crashed out — Shaikh Suhail with gearbox problems in his Land Rover and Shaikh Abdullah in the last loop.
The UAE Rally Championship, organised by the Emirates Motor Sport Federation (EMSF), was sponsored by Shaikh Marwan Bin Rashid Al Mualla, EMSF Chairman and Mohammad Bin Sulayem, FIA Vice-President (Sports).
Though the opening round attracted 20 entries, five cars could not start due to faulty documentation. "It is heartening to see 15 cars in the competition after such a long break. We were happy to see the drivers and co-drivers having a good time, and everyone was genuinely excited to be part of the action," Ahmad Al Sharif, General Manager, EMSF, told Gulf News.
The next event on the EMSF will either be a 4x4 rally (in Umm Al Quwain) or a salon cars event (in Sharjah) in the first week of January, 2012.
