The Oman Rally Team’s Abdullah al-Rawahi and Jordanian co-driver Ata al-Hmoud held a comfortable lead of 5min 23.2sec after a further six gravel stages of the Oman International Rally yesterday.
The 2021 event winner was second quickest on each of the fast and flowing gravel speed tests in his Skoda Fabia Evo, despite a flat tyre on the opener, and heads into the final day well placed to win his second ever round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship.
After crashing on Thursday’s super special, Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah and his Andorra-based co-driver Mathieu Baumel began a daunting fightback through the field from 13th overall. They won each of the day’s stages but progress was severely hampered when the event Stewards imposed a second penalty of five minutes and a suspended fine on the Volkswagen Golf crew for a seat belt violation that had occurred on the super special stage. The Qatari reached the night halt in seventh overall and trails the leader by 11min 27.4sec.
The Czech crew of Petr Kacirek and Petra Rihakova held second in their Duck Racing Skoda Fabia. The overnight leading Kuwaiti Meshari al-Thefiri and his Qatari co-driver Nasser al-Kuwari were a mere 16.6 seconds behind in third place and 13.5 seconds clear of their closest MERC2 rivals, the fourth-placed Omani crew of Abdullah al-Zubair and Taha Soomar.
The Jordanian duo of Shaker Jweihan and female co-driver Nancy al-Majali rounded off the top five after ongoing technical issues pushed Qatar’s Nasser Khalifa al-Atya and Italian team-mate Giovanni Bernacchini down to eighth over the afternoon’s loop of stages. Jordan’s Sheikh Bader al-Fayez has a slender hold on sixth place with al-Attiyah closing in from seventh, while Kuwait’s Yousef al-Dhefiri and Jordanian Ihab al-Shorafa round off the top 10.
Al-Attiyah was faced a stiff challenge if he was to snatch an eighth win in Oman. He trailed the leader by 10 minutes heading to the first stage of morning loop – the 21.98km of Al-Khoud. The Qatari didn’t disappoint and he beat al-Rawahi by 63 seconds to claim the stage win and also regained 1min 56.7sec from former leader al-Thefiri.
Al-Rawahi had suffered a rear right puncture but duly moved into the lead on a stage where Lebanon’s Ahmad Khaled dropped over 10 minutes with his own on-stage tyre problems. Al-Rawahi responded in Jafnein (19.54km) and al-Attiyah was only able to claw back 4.4 seconds. He gained another five on the final stage of the loop at Saal and returned to the midday service trailing the leading Omani by 8min 42.9sec, although he had climbed above Ihad al-Shorafa into 11th overall.
Al-Atya, al-Thefiri, Kacirek and al-Zubair rounded off the top five. Zakariya al-Aamri retired his Subaru with technical issues.
Competitive action concludes with two further loops of three gravel special stages. After the opening Mulaynah (15.86km) test, the morning’s action continues with the 19.65km of the Misfah special from and the first run through Murayrat (21.97km). A return for a regroup and service will be followed by repeat runs through the three gravel speed tests, respectively.

Positions after SS7
1. Abdullah al-Rawahi (OMN)/Ata al-Hmoud (JOR) Skoda Fabia Evo 1hr 18min 08.9sec
2. Petr Kacirek (CZE)/Petra Rihakova (CZE) Skoda Fabia 1hr 23min 32.0sec
3. Meshari al-Thefiri (KWT)/Nasser al-Kuwari (QAT) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 23min 48.6sec
4. Abdullah al-Zubair (OMN)/Taha Soomar (OMN) Subaru Impreza STi 1hr 24min 02.1sec
5. Shaker Jweihan (JOR)/Nancy al-Majali (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 27min 28.7sec
6. Sheikh Bader al-Fayez (JOR)/Emad Juma (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 28min 56.9sec
7. Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah (QAT)/Mathieu Baumel (AND) Volkswagen Polo GTI 1hr 29min 36.2sec
8. Nasser Khalifa al-Atya (QAT)/Giovanni Bernacchini (ITA) Ford Fiesta R5 1hr 29min 40.3sec
9. Yousef al-Dhefiri (KWT)/Carlos Hanna (LEB) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 29min 59.4sec
10. Ihab al-Shorafa (JOR)/Yousef Juma (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 1hr 36min 46.4sec