MERC: Driver profile - Abdullah Bahashab

At almost 33 years old now , Abdullah Bahashab, Saudi Arabia, is one of three Middle-East Rally drivers who is taking part in the World Rally Championship (WRC) , together with Oman's Hamed Al-Wahaibi and Lebanon's Roger Feghali .

Abdullah started his rally career in the Middle-east in the early 90' s , and won the Middle-east title for the group-N class in the years 1993-1994 , then he moved on to the group-A category and won this title also, being the only driver that took the Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) crown except of course Muhamed Bin-Sulayem .

After winning the title , he decided to move on to the WRC and in the last couple of years we are seeing him as a top ranking driver in the FIA teams cup , finishing 2nd in 1998 & 2000 .

This year , 2001 , driving again along side with co-driver Bobby Willis , in a Marlboro backed Toyota Corola WRC , they finished 2nd in the teams cup in Cyprus & Greece .

This comming weekend Abdullah is making a visit to the Lebanon rally , hoping to win it , and finish hard month for the team . the Lebanon rally will be a tough competition for Abdullah as he will have to face rally stars Pierro Liati , Muhamed Bin-Sulayem , J-P Nasrallah and Roger Feghali , last year rally winner , all in WRC class cars .

* You can visit the Abdullah Bahashab fan club web site at : http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/abdullahbakhashabfansclub and enjoy there great rally pics of Toyota Team Saudi-Arabia .

-duby miller