HAIL: The Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF) conducted their technical scrutineering and administration checks for the 15th Hail Nissan Rally, the opening round of the 2020 Saudi Desert Rally Championship, on Monday.
The event gets underway with the traditional ceremonial start in Hail from 4 p.m. on Tuesday and runs over four days in the An Nafud Desert before the ceremonial finish podium on Saturday evening.
The formalities began at 9 a.m. in the Industrial Zone in Hail city and the inspections were carried out by officials from Hungary, Bahrain and the host nation. Scrutineering enables rally officials to check the safety of the vehicles, as well as checking the eligibility of components for categories and classes.
Officials inspected the chassis and engines, roll cages and fire safety equipment, race overall and helmets, in addition to the documentation process, which included checking paperwork, homologation documents, certificates and eligibility for the T1 Prototype, T2 for series production cross-country vehicles, T3 for UTVs and T4 for trucks categories.
This year’s event has attracted 59 vehicles in the various classes and 10 motorcycles and quads. The only female scheduled to take part was Naqa’a Al-Shammeri, but she has now withdrawn for personal reasons.
There is added focus on the efforts of the SAMF, as the event is being observed as a candidate for possible inclusion in the prestigious 2021 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies.
The rally is running under the chairmanship of Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Faisal and the supervision of the Hail Regional Development Authority in cooperation with the General Authority for Tourism and National Heritage and the General Authority for Sport.
"The Hail Rally started rallies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and it is the basis for all rally and the best thing to start with this season," Prince Khalid said.
Hail Rally is under the patronage of Prince Abdul Aziz bin Saud Al-Saud, governor of Hail, and Prince Faisal bin Fahd.
The first of four desert selective sections start at 8 a.m. on Wednesday and the weekend’s action culminates with the ceremonial podium at the Maghwat Conference Center from 6 p.m. on Saturday.
