Nissan's Essa Al-Dossari storms to the top of the Ha'il Nissan Rally rankings 17.01.2018: .....after third stage win 13th HA’IL NISSAN INTERNATIONAL CROSS-COUNTRY RALLY January 13-18, 2018 Wednesday, January 17th 2018

.....after third stage win


13th HA’IL NISSAN INTERNATIONAL CROSS-COUNTRY RALLY
January 13-18, 2018
Wednesday, January 17th 2018




•    Muneef Al-Salmani takes control in T2 category in his Nissan
 




Saudi Arabia’s Essa Al-Dossari and Emirati navigator Ali Hassan Obaid were the class of the field on the second and longest selective section of the 13th Ha’il Nissan International Cross-Country Rally.



The fastest time of 4hrs 56min 05sec moved the ED Racing Nissan Navara into a comfortable outright lead of 15min 34sec.
 


Samai Talab Al-Shammeri and navigator Abdullah Mutar Al-Shammeri had started the morning’s action with a lead of 4min 44sec and they reached the stage finish in an unofficial fifth position in their Nissan Patrol and slipped to second overall.
 


Al-Dossari said: “I’ve finished today in first place. I was the second car into the stage. Samai was first car on the road, as he came first yesterday. I am leading now, almost 20 minutes on the day’s stage and 15 overnight. The stage was fine, but the first half was a bit difficult and I had to be cautious. I am very happy with my times and I will be in a comfortable mood for the last stage tomorrow.”
 


There were good stage performances by Muteb Saud Al-Qnoon and Ahmed Abdullah Al-Shuhail, who set the third and seventh quickest times to settle into third and fourth in the general classification.
 


Overnight T2 leader Meshal Saud Al-Saeedi retired and that paved the way for Muneef Al-Salmani to snatch the category advantage and sixth overall in his Nissan Saudi Arabia-backed Patrol – the King of All Terrains. Talal Al-Thukair led the ATV category on his Can-Am and slotted into fifth place in the general rankings.
 


The stage was the longest of the entire rally and the longest in the 13-year history of  Saudi Arabia’s flagship off-road event. Crews tackled a selective section of 351.01km that started in Radifah and finished in Umm Al-Qulban.
 


Khalid Al-Furaihi stopped for 25 minutes with technical issues before continuing, but Khaleel Abdulrahman Al-Tuwaijri was less fortunate and rolled his Can-Am on to it side.
 




Forty of the original 42 starters began the special; Mohammed Al-Tuwaijri had crashed out on Tuesday and Fawaz Aied Al-Shammeri was also a non-starter in his T2 Nissan.
 



The Ha’il Nissan International Cross-Country Rally is being staged under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Abdul Aziz bin Sa’ad 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 (Thursday) is the fourth and final day of the Ha’il Nissan International Cross-Country Rally. The route includes a selective section of 168.57km that starts near Al-Ghazalah and finishes close to Ha’il.
 



Follow the results live

 



- Neil Perkins, also photos













13th Ha’il Nissan International Cross-Country Rally - positions after SS3 (unofficial – 15.14hrs):




1. Essa Al-Dossari (SAU)/Ali Hassan Obaid (ARE) Nissan Patrol                                     7hrs 24min 38sec


2. Samai Talab Al-Shammeri (SAU)/Abdullah Mutar Al-Shammei (SAU) Nissan   7hrs 40min 12sec


3. Muteb Saud Al-Qnoon (SAU)/Abdullah Al-Qnoon (SAU) Nissan                   7hrs 51min 57sec


4. Ahmed Al-Shuhail (SAU)/Rasheed Al-Shammeri (SAU) Nissan Patrol                     7hrs 55min 45sec


5. Talal Al-Thukair (SAU)/Saleh Al-Shebanah (SAU) Can-Am                                  8hrs 02min 56sec


6. Muneef Al-Salmani (SAU)/Ali Al-Saiyari (SAU) Nissan Patrol                                       8hrs 20min 33sec


7. Ahmed Al-Shegawi (SAU)/Alexei Kuzmich (RUS) Nissan Patrol                       8hrs 21min 09sec


8. Khalid Al-Shammeri (SAU)/Hani Munif Al-Shammeri (SAU) Nissan                         8hrs 21min 35sec


9. Yousef Al-Suweidi (SAU)/Ziad Al-Harbi (SAU) Nissan Patrol                                       8hrs 25min 42sec


10. Saleh Abdullah Al-Saif (SAU)/Abdulsalem Al-Shammeri (SAU) Can-Am                8hrs 26min 16sec


11. Al-Mashna Al-Shammeri (SAU)/Murdi Mutair Al-Shammeri (SAU) Nissan   8hrs 29min 23sec


12. Khalid Nafeaa Al-Hamzani (SAU)/Fahad Al-Omar (SAU) Nissan                   8hrs 51min 37sec
 

- Neil Perkins, also photos