Abdo Feghali’s dominance was overwhelming, during the 29th edition of the Spring Rally organised by ATCL. Feghali who won this rally for the first time in 2003 dominated every stage of the rally and ended the day with record breaking times. He started on the high breaking Nahr Ibrahim’s stage all time record and creating a gap of 38 seconds over second place. The gap was expanded to 1minute and 4 seconds by the end of the first 2 stages, to be expanded to a destructive 2 minutes 11 seconds gap by the end of the rally. A massive deficit for a rally of 65 KM.
Abdo’s dominance did not overshadow the battle for second place. The rally was all about the second place as it turned to be, especially after the retirement of Lebanon’s new Red Bull athlete Nicolas Amiouni who retired after SS1. Amiouni was hoping to challenge Abdo Feghali for the first place but it was never meant to be. The true potential of his charge will be postponed to other rallies.
Apart from Abdo’s win the future looks green for Joseph Hindy. Joseph was undoubtedly the man of the rally. He was the closest driver in terms of stage times to Abdo Feghali, and he was heading the pack before a hit some mechanical problems at the end of the rally. Joseph who enjoyed the best performance of his career in rallying so far, finished 5th, a result that does not reflect his performance.
Gilbert Bannout climbed to 2nd at the end of the rally after what was looking like disappointing start. Gilbert who was driving a Mini Countryman RRC, the best car out there, was on a learning experience. Gilbert operated on a new car and with a new Co-driver and was not able to practice on the car due to many delays for the car on the customs. More would be expected from Gilbert in the coming rallies due to the superiority of his car the gap that separated him from Abdo should start to decrease dramatically to prove his potential.
Another man with a career performance was Eddy Abou Karam who finished the rally 3rd. From stage 1 Eddy looked to be on pace, and it was obvious that his hard work over the winter is starting to pay off especially with his co-driver Elie Mousallem. Eddy was very consistent during the race and his stage times showed that he has done some progress and more is expected from him in the coming rallies. Eddy was followed by another impressive performance by the ever developing Rabih Ayoub. Rabih Finished the rally 1 second away from Eddy in 4th and marked another big step for him in his career as a rally driver. Rabih who drove an EVO 9 has learned from the mistakes of last year and continued his improvement.
Chafic Boulos finished 6th, which comes as a disappointment for the 2012 Grp N champ. Champ was not very far away but his stage times showed that he was within the battle but couldn’t keep up with the competition. He will be looking to improve and get back to pace and title defence mode in the upcoming summer rally.
Tony Helou, Dany Abou Chakra and Emile Abou Karam completed the first 9 positions, each fulfilling a target he has set at the beginning of the rally.
Robert Aaraj suffered intensly from mechanical issues in the first 2 stages and he managed his frustration and wont he FWD category who didnt witness a lot of participation especially with the withdrawal of Hisham Al Abiad and the absence of reigning champion Ghassan Khoury and previous champion Bassel Abou Hamdan. Robert Finished 10th followed by new comer Tony Bou Gebrayel in 11th and Bechara Beschir in 12th. Walid Chlink who returned after 25 years of absence in 13th. Nabil Abdul Hak finished at the bottom of the pack after suffering with some problems.
Khaled Karam