Rally Armindo Araujo leads Saudi Rally Al Sharqia

 Armindo Araujo & Miguel Ramalho are leading the Saudi Rally 2008 Al Sharqia round, which is  EMRC Championship (Candidate Event)

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s first ever FIA-sanctioned special stage rally got underway with a four-kilometre timed spectator stage on Half Moon Bay, in the Al-Khobar region of the Eastern Province, on Tuesday afternoon. And immediately Armindo Araujo and Miguel Ramalho set the fastest time with their Auto Classic’s Lancer Evo IX on the opening test of the 2008 Sharqia Rally and will take a 0.3-second lead into Wednesday’s desert stages on this candidate event for possible inclusion in the 2009 FIA Middle East Rally Championship.

Today the cars have tackled six special stages and was Al Rhaji the new leader until SS5, when the crew supported by Al-tayyar Travel Group, Tmn, Galp is returned to the top increasing then the gap. Tomorrow (Thursday) the last 6 SS of the rally.  

Positions after SS7 (End of day 2): 1. Armindo Araujo (P)/Miguel Ramalho (P) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 57m 19.3s; 2. Amjad Farrah (HKJ)/Ahmed Ghaziri (RL) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution +1m 45.4s; 3. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (KSA)/Matthieu Baumel (F) Subaru Impreza N14 +2m19.3s; 4. Khalifa Al-Attiyah (QA)/Rashid Al-Sulaiti (QA) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution +3m 24.2s; 5. Doumit Bou Doumit (RL)/Loaay Saker (RL) Toyota Corolla +4m 43.2s

Portugal’s RalliArt Italy driver Armindo Araujo in action on the Half Moon Bay spectator stage of the Sharqia Rally on Tuesday.