KUWAIT CITY, March 21: The Kuwait International Rally officially kicked off Thursday with a pre-event press conference and ceremonial start held at the Safir International Hotel Fintas. Minister of Information and State Minister for Youth and Sports Sheikh Salman Al-Humoud Al-Sabah attending the event pledged he would do his best to ensure it succeeds.
“The holding of the rally in Kuwait which is also the second round of the Middle East Rally Championship, is a sign of the country’s enhanced stature on the international stage, in the field of motorsports and also speaks to great confidence in Kuwaiti youth’s capabilities for springing off such an impressive event, said the Minister as he sat at the press conference flanked by high ranking rally officials of the event organizers the Kuwait Quarter Mile Club, Sheikh Ali Fawaz Al Sabah and Sheikh Athbi Naif Al Sabah and FIA vice president Dr Mohammed bin Sulayem along with some notable racers from the region.
He added that motorsport is given much attention and backing by Kuwait’s political leadership under the leadership of the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The youth minister stated that Kuwaiti sports officials pay heed to sports at the behest of the political leadership in an effort to keep Kuwaiti youth away from motorsport abuse which results in accidents.

The 12-stage rally starts on Friday, March 22 and ends Saturday March 23 in Julai’a. a distance of 121km is set to be covered on day one while day two will be 120km in the special stages but the overall distance of the event stretches 614km with 28 racers from across the Middle East and Europe participating including Nasser Al Attiah, winner of the last Middle East Rally1 in Qatar.
Sheikh Ali Fawaz Al-Sabah, General Secretary, Kuwait Quarter Mile Automobile and Motorcycle Club, said he has high expectations about the success of the event given the dedication of the organizers and all people associated with the event, an all-volunteer group led by rally director Mishari Al-Sabti, who are putting in more than a hundred percent of their effort behind the scenes as it was all evident at the pre-rally press conference and ceremonial start area where the marvelous visual effects were on display as a testament to the amazing organization. “I’m truly really proud of these people”, said the General Secretary. He noted that the number of racers registered for the event is the highest ever recorded in any Middle Eastern event of that class. “Hopefully it’s going to be an accident-free, hiccups-free event, weather permitting”, he added.

As to what could be the benefit to Kuwait from the Rally, Sheikh Fawaz stated that the first benefit for Kuwait is that the motorsport culture itself shows how far these teams go to achieve the safety standards and such extreme sport with such extreme safety precautions makes one wants to do it and that helps. The other aspect of it is that this kind of sport makes people blow out steam, instead people racing in uncontrolled environment with all the attendant risks to both motorists and pedestrians, it is being done under safe and controlled environment setting the way for the youth to emulate.
Sheikh Athbi Naif Al-Sabah for his part was full praises for the smooth manner of the organization while also wishing all participants the best of luck.
Dr Mohammed Bin Sulayem, Vice President of International Federation of Automobiles-FIA, shared some sentiments on the rally saying that the organization of the rally first of all has shown some quality manifested by the harmony that has exists between the government and the organizers. “You need that cohesiveness and support from the government which to the organizers it’s excellent”. He added that at some stage there was speculation about the event date being pushed forward, sinnaling inadequate preparations, and when he got wind of it and wrote a letter to Sheikh Ali Fawaz the response was almost immediate to clarify the issue. “This is where people of the caliber of Sheikh Fawaz and Athbi Al Sabah come in handy to take care of business when it comes to clarifying issues to enable the event move forward as planned”.

Dr Sulayem praised the quality of the large number of participating cars in the rally. He further stated that he made a request last year for the World Motorsports Council to accept homologated cars in another category providing they are within the FIA approved safety standards. The request according to the former Middle East rally champion was accepted and that accounts for the increase in the number of entries for the current event. Before then we had the quality and now we have the numbers too in addition. He predicted the event could down to a fierce contest between Khaled Al-Qassimi, Nasser Al Attiah and Yazeed Al Rajhi who in recent rallies around the region have displayed some good speed and agility. He however declined an invitation to gaze into the crystal ball saying that after what he saw in the Middle East Rally round one in Qatar held recently earlier in the year, the struggle could narrow down to the three.
Burcu Cetinkaya, the only female racer in the pack, expects to pull through all the way to the finish in her group N category where she hopes to fight for the best place. She conceded conditions on the first day are going to be very tough but with determination on their side “We’re going to pull through to the end unlike last year when we had to pull out with two stages left to finish”.


By Iddris Seidu
Arab Times Staff