The FIA Rally Star Qualifying series had been hosted for the first time at Oman Automobile Association (OAA) on March 10 and 11. The event was set up with two Challenges – the Digital challenge: An WRC official FIA World Rally Championship video game and the Slalom challenge: time attack challenge.

The challenges were only limited to Omanis from ages 17 to 26 and over 50 participants had queued up at the Muscat Arena for the competition. The Slalom Challenge was organised in the Drift Arena using the Muscat Speedway karts, and the Digital Challenge took place at OAA’s new Digital Centre, with its flashing colored lights, gaming chairs and updated gaming controls and screens.

Digital Motorsport Director, Masoud Ali said: “I’m happy that Oman Digital Motorsports has evolved and with the new digital centre at OAA’s facility, we are hoping to make the sport more accessible to everyone.

“The turnout of the event exceeded our expectations and the contestants took the challenges very seriously, aiming to achieve first place.”

The top three candidates from each challenge have been given the opportunity to travel to Abu Dhabi, UAE, to take part in the Continental Finals of the FIA Rally Star at Yas Marina Circuit, on March 18 and 20. There they will be competing with over 88 contestants coming from the Middle East and North Africa regions.

Due to unfortunate circumstances, Abdullah al Yahyai will not be able to compete in the Mena Final and Abdullah bin Masoud al Touqi, who came in fourth place in both challenges, will be replacing him to participate in the competition at Yas Marina Circuit.

Winning third place in the Digital Motorsport, Bashar al Qasmi, said: “I’m very happy to qualify in third place. It’s the first time I played the WRC10 game as I’ve only played the DiRT 2.0, but I feel good coming in third place as a first timer.”

When asked how he feels to be competing in Yas Marina, the 24-year-old said: “It’s a great feeling to be able to show our skills to the other contestants in Abu Dhabi and fight to the top in a thrilling atmosphere with new and exciting challenges. So we hope to go together as a team in support of each other.”

The candidates will face off in the Yas Marina LifeLive TN5 Cross Cars during the event, which will be split up into three stages of reconnaissance and timed runs. The tracks for each stage will increase lengthwise and drivers are required to qualify from each stage to the next.

In addition to the runs, Stage 2 will have a digital challenge alongside it, and in Stage 3 contestants will need to take part in a physical assessment of their fitness performance that consists of a running session and a reflex test.

The winner will get to drive an M-Sport Fiesta Rally3 in 2023, with a training season consisting of test sessions and six rallies. The best lady of the competition will be invited to compete in the women’s final at the end of the year, with a similar prize.