Saudi Arabia's Yazeed Al-Rajhi and his French co-driver Matthieu Baumel clinched a dramatic victory in Saudi Arabia's new FIA candidate Sharqia Rally on Thursday afternoon. The pair finished 21.2 seconds clear of Jordan's Amjad Farrah and Lebanese co-driver Ahmed Ghaziri after 13 special stages and two days of competition in the Half Moon Bay area in Al-Khobar. The final day developed into an epic battle between Farrah and Al-Rajhi, once Portugal's Armindo Ara?jo had been forced to withdraw his Mitsubishi before the restart. Farrah held a 13-second lead with two stages remaining, but the Saudi – a winner of the Kuwait candidate event earlier this year – completed his second international win by putting in two sensational stage times over the closing pair of sandy tests. Qatar's Khalifa Al-Attiyah and Rashid Al-Sulaiti clinched the final podium place. “I knew that I had to push hard to win, but I wanted to win my home rally,” insisted a delighted Al-Rajhi. “It was a great fight with Amjad this afternoon. I left nothing to chance over the last three stages and it worked. To win here is like a dream for me.” Event officials had monitored the passage of cars carefully over the opening day's stages using the championship's useful tracking system and Jaber Al-Marri was awarded a 10-minute time penalty for straying too far off the route. This was reduced to five minutes and the Qatari slipped from eighth to 13th at the restart. Portugal's Armindo Ara?jo should have headed into the first of six sandy tests at A'Dannan with a handsome 1m 45s lead. But the Portuguese driver was unable to restart after event officials discovered that his car may have been interfered with during the overnight halt. Kuwait's Meshari Al-Thafiri set the quickest time in the opening stage, as Farrah extended his lead over Al-Rajhi to 35 seconds with the second fastest time. But the Saudi hit back with a vengeance in SS9 and reduced the lead by 21 seconds. He was fastest again in the Dhallum stage and the pair returned to the King Fahd Coastal City separated by a mere eight seconds. Khalifa Al-Attiyah held a solid third place, with Essa Al-Dossari in fourth and Jordan's Ammar Hijazi and Saudi Saeed Al-Mouri fighting for fifth overall. A mere two seconds was the gap after SS10, as Majed Al-Ghamdi lost four minutes in SS9 unblocking a clogged air filter and several cars sported bodywork damage from the heavy sand. The Sharqia Rally is scheduled to take its place as the third round of next year's FIA Middle East Rally Championship on April 7-9 (subject to final FIA approval). __
