Saeed Al-Hajri

 

 

 

“I hope that Saeed didn’t frighten you with his driving yesterday?” my CEO said. He saw the puzzled expression on my face. “You know Saeed’s history don’t you?”

 

Saeed was the GM of our groups Travel and Air Cargo division and a couple of years younger than myself. I used to meet him at the groups monthly joint management meetings and at company events. I had also attended his house warming party at his new luxurious villa in West Bay, Doha, and knew Saeed as a quiet and courteous family man, with a nice disposition and ready smile.

 

My car had been in the garage for service and I had had a lift in to town for our monthly management meeting. When the meeting was over I asked if anyone was going near the industrial area and could offer me a lift instead of my having to get a taxi. Saeed offered and we had a pleasant half hour ride to my office. He had an American sedan and drove excellently – something unusual in Qatar, where driving can be a quite “hairy” experience at the best of times.

 

“You know he recently did Qatar proud in the Paris to Dakar rally?” my boss asked. Well I didn’t and was somewhat surprised.

 

In his younger days Saeed was one of the top rally drivers in the Middle East, known as “King of the Dunes” competing for the Rothmans team (of which our company was a distributor) with Porsche, Audi Quattro and Ford in both Middle Eastern and European rallies, although his speciality was desert rallying.

 

Having retired from rallying for some years, Qatar’s government sports authority - who were promoting all sports enthusiastically – asked him if he would consider entering the Paris to Dakar rally representing Qatar. At first he declined, but was later persuaded to accept. Unexpectedly, at the age of 52, he did very well, gaining 6th position overall.

 

After seeing the below videos of his rallying, the difference between his quiet and courteous town driving and his racing showed a remarkable contrast.