Five days of battling in the Egyptian deserts and terrain, one scene drives every Pharaon racer forward -- the panoramic view of the Pyramids – where the gruelling race ends. Reaching the finish line of the Pharaons International Country Rally makes you a hero just by getting there, regardless of position. It's a harsh physical and psychological test of endurance, five days covering 2,375km from the Western Desert to the foot of the Giza Pyramids. On Tuesday 12 May pilots and co-pilots jumped off the starting line with their bikes, quads, cars and trucks starting stage one of the 2015 edition of the Pharaons Rally. All eyes were on Yazeed Al-Rajhi of Saudi Arabia, the defending champion of the red-hot T1 category. Before the race, Al-Rajhi told Al-Ahram Weekly that he was “technically capable of laying my hands on this year's title, and Al-Attiah knows that quite well.” It sounded alarming coming for the competitive Saudi. Al-Rajhi provided an entertaining rally by starting an early duel with the Qatari Al-Attiah. The battle saw five tough stages; in stage one, Al-Rajhi was eager to prove his confidence was right, thrashing his right foot down the throttle, to finish on top of stage one according to the plan. He was only two minutes ahead of his best friend Al-Attiah, which meant that the Qatari had already accepted the challenge. The rest of the Mini4 lads were nearly in the same territory, with the Polish Adam Malysz coming at 1:51:32, while the Russian Vladimir Vasilyev finishing at 1:52:04 and in fourth place. With all the drivers trying to close the gap in the first stage, upcoming special stages and challenges were expected to widen the gap, keeping in mind that it is not enough for drivers to just finish ahead of their rivals in each stage. They must also increase the time difference as well, to secure their targeted positions in the overall and category. Stage 2: Al-Rajhi faced difficulties with his Hilux Overdrive in the thick sands in which his car got stuck, forcing him to waste a lot of time, taking him down to fifth in the overall rank. “The torque in my car didn't help when we got into lots of sand, so we got stuck there for a while,” said Al-Rajhi. With his other eye on Al-Attiah, Al-Rajhi maintained consistency using his wide rally experience, which helped him jump to first place overall after finishing second in stage two. The hard-nosed Russian Vasilyev won stage two, making his presence felt with a shout in the race towards the title, jumping to second position overall, ahead of Al-Rajhi in third. Stage 3: It was time for the comeback from Al-Rajhi who sensed that his title was starting to slip from his hands. Pulling himself together, Al-Rajhi won stage 3 nearly a minute and a half ahead of Al-Attiah. Things started to be clear now. Al-Attiah was on top of the overall rank for the first time since the start, Al-Rajhi second, and Vasilyev third after finishing fourth in stage 3. Stage 4: Again, lots of sand to restrict Al-Rajhi's clumsy Hilux Overdrive, throwing him back to fourth position after losing precious time. However, proving Al-Rajhi's claims wrong, Reinaldo Varela of Brazil finished second behind the steady Al-Attiah in this stage, with a Hilux Overdrive, the same car Al-Rajhi kept blaming. Yasilyev made sure to stay close to the action, as usual finishing third. The overall standings did not change much, with Al-Attiah holding tight on the top, the ambitious Yasilyev second and the mercurial Al-Rajhi in third. Stage 5 (finish line): Like he started, Al-Rajhi gave it everything to win the fifth stage and widen the time difference with Al-Attiah. Like he hoped, Al-Rajhi won stage five 2:39 minutes ahead of Yasilyev in second and 4:22 minutes in front of Al-Attiah in third. However, that was't enough for the Saudi to keep his title for this year, overall finishing ahead of Yasilyev as a runner-up behind the new Pharaon Nasser Al-Attiah. “Thank God, our goal was to go forward pace-fully. On the first day we took everything into account and then we stayed in the pole for some time till the end. I'm very pleased with this win indeed,” Al-Attiah said. In T2, first place went to Lebanese Emil Kneisser ahead of Berezovskiy from Kazakhstan. Raul Oriandini won the T3 ahead of Eric Mozas in second. In the biking competition the Pole Jakub Piatek, 24, was the big surprise. Finishing on top in stage one, second position in the second, third, and fourth stages was an eye-popping achievement, but arriving first in the fifth stage and winning the rally, agreed observers, was phenomenal. “It took me three years to win the Pharaons Rally, and this lad just did it in one year. I am stunned”, Quad bike champion Rafal Sonic said. In the bikes category along with Piatek, Mohamed Al-Bloushy from the UAE had a great start, holding first position till the third stage. In the fourth stage he finished third, however, in the fifth stage Al-Bloushy had a mechanical problem that forced him to push his bike for 5km. He ended up him in eighth position and third overall behind Juan Carlos Salvaterra, all via KTM450. “It was my first time here in Egypt. I tried to make no mistakes. Others did more mistakes, so I won,” said Piatek. In the Quad category everyone was expecting the legend Rafal Sonic to win the category as usual, but his big rival the Qatari Mohamed Abu-Eissa with his TRX680 proved to the 49-year- old Sonic that sometimes experience isn't the fastest way out of the desert. So second place went to the Polish driver Sonic, and third to Antoine Lecomte from France, both via Raptor700. Egyptian fans were disappointed from day one when Tarek Al-Erian, participating in T1, suffered fatal engine failure with his Cotel Prototype Buggy that ruled him out of the rally. Al-Erian did great last year and was the first ever Egyptian rally driver to participate in the Rally Dakar, making many fans and observers expect a lot from him. “We were all disappointed as a team after what happened, but this is likely to happen in racing.” Asked about the engine, Al-Erian said that they applied the same set-up for the engine like last year. “We will come back stronger next year,” Al-Erian added. Another setback for the Egyptians in the first stage was biker Khaled Kapo who fell, breaking his collarbone. Kapo was immediately air lifted to a hospital in Cairo. Ahmed Barakat and co-pilot Amira Bahaa rolled over with their car and were ruled out of the rally, at least unharmed. Nader Al-Khayat on his Raptor700 Quad bike finished fourth in his category after a challenging journey. “I am satisfied with what I achieved. I promise next year I will be more careful about my physical fitness,” said Al-Khayat. Hesham Al-Ghamri and his co-pilot Sherif Al-Alem finished 19th overall in the cars category competing in the T1 via their Rally Raid Desert Warrior. They were awarded the Azzam Al-Farouki Trophy for best Egyptians participating. At the end of stage five and the rally, organiser and participants were extremely happy with the experience. Participants were overwhelmed by reaching the Pyramids, forgetting their physical and mental fatigue. “A very nice stage of the World Cup, everyone is happy with the security and organisation, and we succeeded, sending a clear message to the whole world that Egypt is safe,” said Mahmoud Noureddin, Pharaons Rally organiser, referring to the political instability Egypt went through after two nationwide revolutions starting in 2011. The rally crossed over 2,000km in the desert across Egypt showing off the natural beauty of the desert and oasis to the participants. Added Noureddin: “We promise to do something more fun and challenging next year.”
