UMEÅ, SWEDEN – Oman’s Abdullah Al-Rawahi and Jordanian co-driver Ata Al-Hmoud achieved their goal of finishing Rally Sweden, starting their FIA Junior World Rally Championship (JWRC) campaign strongly in Umeå on Sunday.
The Oman Rally Team pair overcame a snowbank collision and damaged radiator on Friday afternoon, and a similar stoppage late on Saturday on stage 13, to complete one of the most specialised and difficult WRC events at their first attempt.
Heavy snowfall and tricky roads made the early going even harder, but the defending FIA Middle East rally champions persevered, got to grips with their M-Sport Poland Ford Fiesta Rally3 on studded tyres and finished 14th in JWRC.
Finally, we made it to the finish. Almost a crash on every stage. It was a really tough one. We had so many mistakes. For sure, the first time doing an event like this in such difficult weather and conditions, but at least we manage to complete the rally and see all the stages. We have good data for our next event or next year, hopefully. It was a dream participating on it and we have done it. We learned such a lot and gained good experience from it. Now we can focus on Croatia…
Ata Al-Hmoud
Local driver Mille Johansson won the JWRC opener by 48.9 seconds from Estonia’s Romet Jürgenson, with Ireland’s Eamonn Kelly a distant third.
Saturday and Sunday
After a time penalty and a Saturday restart, Al-Rawahi came through the first passes of Vännäs, Sarsjöliden and Bygdsiljum without drama. He was 11th on the Vännäs re-run, but hit a snowbank again on the second Sarsjöliden pass, damaging the front of the car and incurring penalties for missing the day’s last two stages, including the 10.08km Umeå stage that also served as Sunday’s Power Stage.
With the car repaired, he set the 12th fastest time on SS16, completed the second run through Västervik and the Power Stage, and returned to Umeå to fulfil his objective. The JWRC continues with Rally Croatia on April 18–21.