Oman Wires It's all about Oman
The duo launched its team, AZ Racing, in Muscat on Monday to announce its participation in the World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies and Cross-Country Baja, starting with the Baja occasion in Russia from February 14-17.
The Cross-Country Rally is an occasion that covers territory of a single or a number of nations and lasts for a number of days.
While the Baja race has a distance of 500km to cover, the Cross-Country Rally will be more than a distance of two,000km.
Rallying as a sport has a robust following in the area and Oman, also, has boasted of best-class drivers like Hamed al Wahaibi and Nizar al Shanfari in the previous.
But this is the very first instance when the driver and co-driver are Omanis and competing in the FIA World Cup.
An excited Zubair, who had participated in couple of comparable rallies final year along with Raisi, mentioned, “I love the challenge to overcome difficult terrains. Along with Faisal, we are determined to do well in our maiden World Cup programme, which involves 13 rallies including eight Baja events. We are the first Omani team to participate in a FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies and are proud of it. We are determined to achieve podiums as we have the potential to do it.”
AZ Racing will be powered by skilled South Racing Team from Germany, which is the official functions team for Can-Am Maverick X3, the vehicle the duo will compete.
AZ Racing’s skilled team manager Ivan Ingrilli of Australia, mentioned, “To be picked by a expert South Racing team underlines the talent of the Omani duo. And I do anticipate them to be on podiums.
“I am impressed by their attitude and they have a great future. With Cross-Country Rally changing its course and format every year, it is a challenge to win it every time.”
Zubair mentioned they do ‘dream of taking part in Dakar Rally’, the pinnacle of cross-nation rally, but for now the concentrate is on the World Cup.
“We have confirmed our participation in all the eight Baja rallies but have shortlisted two of the five cross-country rallies for now. Based on our financial backing and results, we will decide for the remaining three rallies,” mentioned Zubair.
Raisi, who teamed up with Zubair, only final year, was confident that the team has the guts to compete with the very best. “We are ready and having had a good season last year during which we learnt a lot by taking part in different rallies, we are now aiming to bring glory for Oman,” mentioned Raisi.
Information Source: Muscat Daily
