Sabban will carry the flag for Saudi Arabia in next week's Dubai International Rally, which brings the 2010 FIA Middle East Championship to a climax. Al-Sabban will be partnered by Adel Huseen in a Subaru Impreza for the final round of this year's FIA regional series from Dec. 2 to 4. They are in a 25-strong provisional entry list issued Tuesday by the rally organizers, the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE. Qatar's Misfer Al-Marri needs only to finish sixth in Dubai to snatch the Middle East crown from fellow countryman Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah who has won the last two championship rounds and has scored victory in Dubai five times in the last seven years. But with the event again taking its traditional slot on UAE National Day weekend, Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi aims to give the host country a victory to celebrate, to add to his back-to-back Dubai International Rally wins in 2005 and 2006. While his main focus with Team Abu Dhabi is the World Rally Championship, Al-Qassimi has already scored maximum points in two Middle East events this season, in Kuwait and Lebanon, and wants to round off the campaign with a win on home territory. Partnered by Irish co-driver Michael Orr in a Ford Fiesta, he is joined in the rally lineup by his brother, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Qassimi, who leads him by a single point, and currently holds fourth place, in the championship. Under pressure from the Al-Qassimi brothers as he tries to hold on to third place in the championship, Khalid Al-Suwaidi is one of five other Qatari drivers in the lineup, teaming up with Nick Beech in a Subaru Impreza. The other Qatari challengers are Abdulaziz Kuwari, Abdullha Al-Rabban, Sheikh Hamad Al-Thani, and Jabir Al-Marri. Essam Al Nejadi, lying joint seventh in the championship, heads a seven-car entry from Kuwait. His fellow countrymen Meshari Al-Sabti, Mufeed Mubarak, Mshari Al-Thefiri, Mohammad Al-Thefiri, Eid Falah and Fahad Ashknani also tackle the event in Mitsubishi Evos. Carrying the Jordanian flag in Dubai will be Mazen Tantash and Carlos Del Barrio in a Subaru Impreza and Ahed Eid with Feras Allowh in a Mitsubishi Evo. Turkey's Orcun Polat and Ufuk Uluocak in a Mitsubishi Evo 9 add to the international flavor of the event. The 2010 Dubai International Rally will have a ceremonial start on Dec. 2 from the Old Town area of Dubai. Over the following two days six stages of approximately 22 kms each will all be run twice to produce a route of 280 kms.
