Omani rally driver Hamed Al-Wahaibi kept his composure and judged his pace perfectly to finish a superb fourth overall and win the RC2 class on his first Oregon Trail Rally.
After a run of fourth-fastest times on Saturday’s stages around Golendale in neighbouring Washington State, behind eventual winner Brandon Semenuk, runner-up Travis Pastrana and third-placed Ken Block, the 53-year-old and New Zealand co-driver Tony Sircombe again set several fourth-fastest times in Oregon’s Dufur region on Sunday.
Despite a puncture on Sunday afternoon, he nursed the McKenna Motorsport Ford Fiesta R5 through the final gravel stages to finish a comfortable fourth, more than 2min 50sec ahead of Javier Castro and over five and a half minutes clear of sixth-placed Enda McCormack.
His highly rated class rival Kyle Tilley had electrical failure on Saturday, traded stage times with Al-Wahaibi afterwards and then crashed out on the 18th and final stage of the tough three-day rally.
I am very happy with the performance on this rally. I really enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun with a good atmosphere. I am pleased with the result. We tried to get a bit closer to the Open cars but there was no chance. The stages were completely flat all the time. I will definitely be coming back to do more rallies in the United States.
Hamed Al-Wahaibi
Al-Wahaibi ran the Ford in the USA with logistical support from Omani delivery and logistics company Asyad Express and Sandan Development LLC.