Lebanon’s Feghali wins National Rally 1st round

AMMAN – Lebanon's Roger Feghali on Friday was crowned champion of the first round of the National Rally Championship, held under the patronage of HRH Prince Feisal, chairman of the Executive Motor Sports Council, and organised by Jordan Motorsport.

Feghali and co-driver Zaid Shehab clocked 59m37s. They were followed by Jordan's veteran driver Marouf Abu Samra and co-driver Nicola Fanous with 1h01m07s and Hussam Salem and co-driver Nanci Majali settled in the third spot with 1h05m54s.

Meanwhile, Ala' Rasheed and co-driver Joseph Matar finished fourth with 1h07m24s and Salameh Qamaz and co-driver Khaled Juma in the fifth place with
1h 15m 82s.

Feghali said the event was an opportunity to prepare for the Jordan Rally, the third round of the Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), which is scheduled to be held between May 1-3. 

“The challenge can tell you more about the level of competition we are going to face in May," he said.

Nine drivers from Jordan and Lebanon took part in the event which is considered the final rehearsal for the challenging Jordan Rally with a new tougher challenge that saw the removal of the service stop after the first two stages on each day, to cut down on the road sections and increase the competitive intensity of the rally.

The new challenge will force drivers to return to the service park for any level of maintenance after five stages, putting more pressure on the drivers and the cars too. 

Currently Qatar's Nasser Al Attiyah is leading the MERC standings with 50 points after two rounds followed by UAE's Khalid Al Qassimi with 33 points and Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi with 27 points.