Other rally
Saeed Thani Rally Al Khaleej stage one notes
THANI BOOSTS CHALLENGE WITH CLASSIC STAGE WIN Abu Dhabi challenger shows he is a quick learner as Wirth, Schmitt increase lead in Rally Al Khaleej Dubai, UAE, 18 March, 2005: Saeed Thani, the Abu Dhabi classic car enthusiast making his ...
Edited: Mar 19, 2005, 5:08 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
THANI BOOSTS CHALLENGE WITH CLASSIC STAGE WIN
Abu Dhabi challenger shows he is a quick learner as Wirth, Schmitt increase lead in Rally Al Khaleej
Dubai, UAE, 18 March, 2005: Saeed Thani, the Abu Dhabi classic car enthusiast making his competitive debut in the Rally Al Khaleej, has given himself fresh hope of scoring a debut victory in the event.
Thani admitted that he has a lot to learn about classic car rallying after an elementary mistake saw a first special stage victory slip from his grasp.
But he also proved that he is a quick learner by winning the second special stage in Liwa on Thursday in his 1960 Ford Thunderbird before taking fifth place later in the day as the event continued with a 390-km third stage to Al Ain.
By the end of the day Thani had climbed to third position overall in his 1960 Ford Thunderbird in which he is being accompanied by his nine-year-old son, Thani Saeed Thani.
After reaching the end of the 370-km first stage to Liwa well ahead of the field, Thani collected time penalties for checking in ahead of the target time and dropped from contention.
He bounced back by winning stage two ahead of Germany's Hans Werner Wirth and co-driver Dr Ursula Schmitt in a 1955 Jaguar XK 140. They then strengthened their overall lead by winning stage three from the 1970 AC Cobra of Dietr Krauschmidt and Bernd Freund and the 1971 Mercedes Benz 350SL of Peter and Martina Bockemuehl.
Lying second overall is the 1973 BMW Coupe 3.0 CS of Willi and Christina Mayer, with Krumschmidt and Freund sharing third place with Thani.
Taking place under the patronage of Lt-General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's Minister of Interior, the Rally Al Khaleej is sponsored by Siemens and by Etihad Airways, the official carrier.
Following tomorrow's (Saturday) rest day the rally continues on Sunday with a 280-km passage to Fujairah featuring two special stages.
-totalcomp-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Tiles Southern 4 Championship 2005 preview
Next article Sugarbelt 400 Prologue summary
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
Latest news
Barcelona set to host IndyCar race in 2027 under multi-year deal
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 12 h
Barcelona set to host IndyCar race in 2027 under multi-year deal
Winners and losers from a Chase-altering NASCAR Cup race at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
13 h
Winners and losers from a Chase-altering NASCAR Cup race at Phoenix
Heart of Racing rules Valkyrie GTP step next year ‘too soon’ for IMSA standout Barrichello
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 13 h
Heart of Racing rules Valkyrie GTP step next year ‘too soon’ for IMSA standout Barrichello
Sergio Perez: Debut Cadillac season "without a doubt one of my best years"
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
14 h
Sergio Perez: Debut Cadillac season "without a doubt one of my best years"
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe