The 1st ever Summer Rally, was one hell of an experience to say the least. A lot of speculation surrounded the rally at first, regarding its destination, the quality of the stages and much more.
The organizers chose Jezzine – last year’s Spring Rally venue – as host of the rally. Visiting Jezzine and other areas lays down in ATCL’s policy to expand and visit areas across the country. Many people did not really fashion the trip to the area because of different reasons, but after the rally has ended, we believed that they were wrong and somehow many of our own fears were washed away too. The villages in Jezzine were very hospitable like all the areas in Lebanon, the main village was booming with new visitors and every kind of required service to make the rally safe and successful. The rally also saw 2 new stages in addition to the participation of several drivers for the first time in their careers, and this factor alone was a big positive, but there were a few negatives too. In this report we will shed the light on all negatives and positives of this rally and on these main topics; the new stages, the competition and the mistakes in announcing the final results.
The stages:
The rally hosted 2 new spectacular stages. New stages are always exciting and they always provide big challenges to the drivers, the fans and media. The stages located in the suburbs of the main Jezzine village featured a combination of amazing scenery, good access points and many good places to watch. Many co-drivers stated, prior to the race, that stage 2 might be one of the most challenging in their careers, and setting the right pace notes would be a tough challenge. The mastermind behind these incredible stages was ATCL’s Fady Aoun. We asked Fady to describe these stages in 2 sentences, and here’s what he said:
“I can describe SS1 as technical, slippery and cautious with wonderful scenery all around. SS2 is very fast up to the first 4 KM and very technical from then on. It requires a very good setup to nail good times”
One of the main challenging points of the rally were once again the night stages. The rally this time comprised of 4/6 night stages which is very challenging, especially for the media, but what we found out later on (exclusive) that the rally was originally based on only 2 night stages, but a wedding in one of the villages compromised the whole rally schedule. SS2 had to be shortened to allow the wedding to take place and SS3 to SS6 were pushed forward in time, so we ended up with 4 night stages.
The competition:
The rally’s winner was declared ahead of time when the entry list was published but people always tend to forget that many things can halt the speed and progress of the best candidate for the win. Roger Feghali set the early pace but a problem with his front right tire in SS4 dropped him to 3rd overall which provided a huge thrill for the spectators, right till the end. The eventual winner was Roger, but with a very small margin of 0.7 over his brother Abdo who drove a spectacular rally to clinch the Group N win. Nicolas Amiouni lost a guaranteed podium finish and a possible win after suffering from a puncture in SS6, and not being able to turn on his car after. In the group category the Gilbert Bannout drove a very composed rally to finish 3rd overall and second in his class to keep his championship position intact. The rally also saw very good performances from 1st timer Garo Haroutunian who proved that he has the speed on a 4WD car and from regulars such as Chafic Boulos and Joseph Hindy who returned after missing the Spring Rally. Eddy Abou Karam’s rally was compromised from the beginning after having a small mechanical problem, while Michel Abou Chakra shared a similar fate.
In the FWD category the competition was very fierce but once again Ghassan Khoury was the man to beat as he set out the pace from the beginning and took the win in the end. Ghassan was followed by the excellent Bassel Abou Hamdan who managed second in his category on an Old Clio RS, proving that he has the pace to challenge the R3 cars. Robert Aaraj completed the top 3 FWD runners and was followed by the experienced Bechara Bachir.
In the 1600cc category, Ziad Karanouh benefitted from the misfortune of his competitors in addition to some smart driving and went on to clinch the win. Kamal Dargham had to retire in SS2 after an engine problem while new-comer Imad Mrad was delayed for 2 min due to a mechanical problem in SS2; he failed to produce a real threat for the win.
Announcing the winner:
This issue was probably the biggest factor that created a lot of frenzy after the race. Upon Arriving to the podium in Jezzine, Abdo Feghali was mistakenly announced the winner ahead of his brother Roger and was handed the first place trophy, while actual stage times showed that Roger had finished 0.7 seconds ahead. The result was later on corrected on the microphone and this lead to a mix up with the media and fans.
On this issue we took the opinion of 2 sides, Abdo Feghali who was declared the winner and Fady Aoun from ATCL.
Abdo Feghali: “I am not sad at all with what happened, I got more exposure for my sponsor and this is very good, but I am really surprised that ATCL committed such a mistake after years of experience. We at MotorTune knew that Roger was 0.7 seconds faster but nevertheless I am surprised that this has happened. Anyway, there is no problem who the winner is since we’re on the same team”
Fady Aoun: “Whatever the result that was announced, it remains a Partial unofficial classification. The official classification is announced at 1 AM. As per the program the prize giving ceremony is at 23:00 so the available result were announced.”
In general we believe that this was not a huge problem in depth, but it might be considered as a negative in terms of presentation especially when a correction was declared during the prize giving ceremony. The wrong declaration created a bit of chaos, nevertheless, such mistakes should be addressed in the futre.
At the end we congratulate the winners and wish all the other competitors the best of luck.