Jeddah (Saudi Arabia):
Rally Jameel, the first world-class navigational rally in the region exclusively for women, has successfully concluded with all 82 participants safely making it to Al- Qassim, the final stage of the roughly 1,600 kilometres five-day long rally. Ewelina Chlebowska of Poland and her co-driver Hanna Riehle of Germany from the team Sandstorm Express won first place in the second edition of the rally in their Toyota FJ Cruiser.
Coming in the second and third place are Camilia Liparoti of Italy and her co-driver Rosa Romero of Spain from CAT Racing in their Toyota Fortuner and Annie Seel and her co-driver Catalina Floberg of Sweden from Seel Motorsport, in their Toyota Fortuner.
Munir Khoja, Managing Director of Branding, Marketing Communications and Sponsorship, Abdul Latif Jameel Motors, commented: “We congratulate all the brave women who participated in the second edition. This year, the rally attracted 82 participants from 25 countries – showcasing its global appeal and perseverance in cultivating an engaging motorsport experience that brings women together. Rally Jameel is a shining example of our commitment to support Saudi Arabia’s diversification programs of empowering women, promoting adventure tourism and realizing The Quality of Life Program by integrating sports into society. Its success demonstrates how motorsport can be used to inspire.”
Following the success of the first edition, and caring to the participants requests, this year’s route was extended to around 1,600 km, testing their precision driving and navigational skills and endurance throughout the treasures of the Kingdom.
“This initiative is of great interest to a large segment of women in the Kingdom, as it aims to support and empower women in motorsports. This is what I work tirelessly for as a board member of the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle federation and as a representative of the Kingdom in the Women in Motorsports Committee in the FIA (WIMC)”, said Aseel Al-Hamad. She continued: “Rally Jameel is an excellent first step for girls who want to enter the world of motorsports. In particular, navigational rallies where speed is not the determinant factor but one’s navigational skills are”.
Participants went in a journey passing through some of the Kingdom’s otherworldly terrains, golden desert sands, historical and archaeological sites including the capital of Elephant Rock, the 52m high sandstone monolith and most iconic of all rock formations in ALULA, and Jubbah, Hail’s UNESCO world heritage site with the most amount of rock carvings from three eras; A’arif Fort built in 1260 and Nagsh Almalikah (Queen rock), the only rock carving in the region to be found of a woman in statuesque detail, ending Al-Qassim, the food basket of the Kingdom and the world’s largest camel market.
Hanna Riehle, the co-driver of Sandstorm Express, champions of this year’s edition said: “We really enjoyed this year’s rally, a key aspect that helped propel us to the top was teamwork. I’m proud to be Ewelina’s co-driver, I feel we demonstrated that with teamwork anything is possible. This is our second time in Rally Jameel, and we are honored to have been crowned champions as a result of our hard work and perseverance”.
This year, the rally also saw an increase in corporate participation to support more teams, creating new opportunities for private sector companies to participate in motorsports as the rally develops new drivers, navigators, and prepares them for future competitions. Rally Jameel also welcomed the support of 68 seasonal organizing team members. The organizers were selected through Bab Rizq Jameel, part of Community Jameel Saudi, which aims to empower young people with new sources of income.
Rally Jameel is initiated by Abdul Latif Jameel Motors and Bakhashab Motorsports, it’s the latest world-class motorsport event hosted in Saudi Arabia and it’s sanctioned by the Saudi Automobile & Motorcycle Federation (SAMF) and supported by the FIA, through their Women in Motorsport (WIMC) program.
