city of arabia rally team heads for world stage
Saleh aims for big finish in Dubai Rally with sights already on Production Car World Championship
Michel Saleh and Yahya Alhelei head into this weekend’s Dubai International Rally both aiming for a strong finish to the season as the City of Arabia team prepares to broaden its horizons next year.
Saleh revealed today that he has been given the green light by his sponsors to contest the
FIA Production Car World Rally Championship in 2008 while Alhelei will embark on his first full Middle East international rally programme.
For now the Dubai Rally is their priority, and both drivers want to bounce back quickly from disappointments in the recent Rally of Lebanon, penultimate round of the 2007 FIA Middle East Championship.
Saleh has just discarded a metal belt worn to support his back after suffering a cracked vertebrae when he crashed in heavy rain on the notoriously treacherous Lebanese tarmac.
He had been lying fifth in his City of Arabia Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9 ahead of Amjad Farrah and looked set to threaten the Jordanian’s third place in the regional series.
“That’s behind me now, and I can’t think of third in the championship unless Amjad doesn’t finish in Dubai,” said Saleh. “But I just want to give my sponsors a good result at the end of the season to thank them for their support.
“They’ve agreed to back me in the Production Car World Rally Championship next year, but for the time being I’m just thinking about Dubai.”
City of Arabia 2
He returns to action in his Subaru Impreza alongside Lebanese co-driver Ziad Chihab,
with the latest version of the Subaru Group N production car already on order for next year.
While Saleh is vastly experienced in Middle East Championship terms, Alheli has made his name in the UAE Desert Challenge. An accomplished performer in cross country events, he is a virtual novice when it comes to conventional rallying and in fact made his debut in the Middle East series in Lebanon.
He was going well before his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8 slid into a ditch, but he looks forward to starting the Dubai International Rally for only the second time following his first appearance back in the early 1980s.
Alhelei is also eager to reward his City of Arabia sponsors, Ilyas and Mostafa Galadari, with a good result in Dubai where will be partnered by Abdulhaleem Bin Zayed.
“They’re supporting local drivers and I want to thank them in the best way I can,” he said. “I finished fourth in the Dubai Rally a long time ago and I’ll try to be in the top five again. Then next year I’ll be doing the whole Middle East Championship for the first time.”
