Saeed Al-Hajri (born 11 November 1950), called The King of Dunes is a

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

rally driver Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...

Biography

Al-Harji was born on 14 April in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

. Al Hajri is the winner of the first two editions of the

Middle East Rally Championship The Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) is a motor rally championship run under the auspicies of the FIA. First held in 1984 the championship encompasses a series of rallies held across Western Asia. The championship has featured long-running eve ...

, he won 18 international victories in rallies (MERC 11), and is also the first Arab to win points in the European and worldwide championships of Rally. His team was the Rothmans Porsche Rally Team from 1983 to 1986, 1987 with Audi Quattro and the Rothmans Ford Team from 1989 to 1990.

History

* Double champion of the Middle East Rally FIA (MORC) in 1984 and 1985 in the Porsche 911 SC RS; * Double champion of the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

rallies in 1983 and 1984, in a Porsche 911 SC RS; * Champion of the Middle East Rally in 1984, in a Porsche 911 SC RS; * 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1989 and 1992: Rally of Qatar; * 1983, 1985 and 1986:

Jordan Rally The Jordan Rally ( ar, رالي الأردن) is a rallying competition held in Jordan. It was a new addition to the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calendar for the 2008 season, and the first occurrence of a WRC event in the Middle East. The r ...

; * 1984: Rally of Dubai; * 1985: winner of Pharaoh's Rally in Egypt in a Porsche 959 * 1993: Rally of

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

with his French co-driver

Henri Magne Henri is an Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Luxembourgish form of the masculine given name Henry. People with this given name ; French noblemen :'' See the 'List of rulers named Henry' for Kings of France named Henri.'' * Henri I de Montm ...

); * 2007: Rally Transsibérie; * 2nd of the MERC Rally of Lebanon in 1988, in a Ford Sierra Cosworth with his copilot and brother Mubarak Al-Hajri; * 4th of the ERC Cyprus Rally in 1983 on Opel Ascona 400 with his copilot John Spiller; * 4th of the WRC Acropolis Rally in 1986 in a Porsche 911 SC RS with his copilot J. Spiller; * 5th of the WRC Acropolis Rally in 1985 in a Porsche 911 SC RS with his copilot J. Spiller; * 6th of Paris-Dakar rally in 2002, at age 52, on Mitsubishi with his co-driver Matthew Stevenson; * 8th of the 1989 WRC Rally of New Zealand in a Ford Sierra MK1 with his co-driver Steve Bond.

External links

Saeed Al-Hajri on rallyebase.nl

Saeed Al-Hajri of rally-info.com

Biography of Saeed Al-Hajri 1

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hajri, Saeed Al- 1950 births Living people People from Doha Qatari rally drivers