Last month, the Jameel Rally concluded in Saudi Arabia, the first car race of its kind exclusively for women in the Arab region. The Jameel Rally marked the beginning of the era of women’s motorsport in Saudi Arabia, according to the newspaper “The New York Times“.
The rally track covered more than 1,100 kilometers, including up to 340 kilometers of off-road desert, with the maximum speed of the participating teams set at 70 kilometers per hour.
In the world of rallying, speed as well as track accuracy determines who gets to the top of the podium, while a beautiful rally doesn’t require speed. It also uses the best navigation techniques and the road book to compete to cross the Saudi deserts using multi-use four-wheel drive vehicles to reach hidden coordinates that formed the rally tracks, to collect as many points as possible to win this rally.
The competitors in the Jameel Rally came to Saudi Arabia in mid-March from 15 countries, including Britain, Germany, Oman, Spain, Sweden and the United States. Each team consists of two women, and more than half of the participating teams had at least one Saudi female contestant.
“Coming here and participating in the first gathering of female drivers gave me goosebumps,” said Atefeh Saleh, a 41-year-old female driver from the UAE.
Saleh’s racing partner, Eleanor Coker, a US citizen living in Saudi Arabia, had another way to prepare for the rally by simulating the race in Dakar 18 on the PlayStation video game console.
Today..history is made ????
Here are the results #rally_beautiful navigational
For women, the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia ????????
Congratulations to the winning contestants ????Today.. history is made
Here are the results of Rally
Jameel, the first of its kind in KSA
Congratulations to the winners#RallyJameel pic.twitter.com/AZDzJeXnH6— Rally Jameel (@RallyJameel) March 20, 2022
The American newspaper says that before 2017, Saudi women were able to hone their driving skills only through video games, pointing out that the situation has now changed to participate in desert rally races with the aim of fun and entertainment.
In rally racing, competitors usually drive long distances on multiple stages off-road in specially modified vehicles for this type of race.
For Manar Alesayi, a divorced Saudi mother of two from Jeddah who drives a 2016 Jeep Wrangler, off-road driving was nothing new, but the competition is tough.
After the first day, her team was in second place, but by the third day, Alesayi’s team had grown into the thirteenth place. “It was a hard truth for me,” she said. “I thought we were doing well, but I learned a lot.”
Since the appointment of Prince Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince of Saudi Arabia in 2017, the oil-rich Gulf kingdom has undergone major changes against the backdrop of a policy of social openness and economic reform aimed at diversifying sources of income dependent on oil and limiting state aid to its citizens.
Those reforms included granting women the right to obtain driving licenses for cars and motorcycles, after this was restricted to men in the conservative kingdom.
Previously, Alesayi used to steal her father’s car at night and roam their farm, before women were allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia. “My mom told me I’m the daughter of the desert,” she said. “Now I just want to take part in rallying as much as I can.”