Home hero Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah and his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera forged into a comfortable lead of 1 minute 47.3 seconds after six challenging gravel stages through the northeastern desert at the Qatar International Rally on Friday.
The Qatari crushed his rivals through the opening three speed tests that constituted the morning’s loop and won two of the afternoon’s repeat passes in his Skoda Fabia RS Rally 2. He said: “Very good day. We did a good job and I am happy. We had only one puncture (SS5) and the rest was good. If you have a puncture, it will be a disaster. We try to keep the pace like this afternoon. We lose two or three seconds from our pace, but I am happy.”
Abdulaziz al-Kuwari admitted that it felt strange to be running as the first car on the road and he took some time to acclimatise. Along with Irish co-driver Lorcan Moore, the current regional champion guided his new Citroen C3 to second place overnight.
Al-Kuwari said: “I think this is my first proper rally in the Citroën. I am very happy. It is a good car and the feeling was good. Lorcan did a very good job. It is not easy to read the roads at that speed in Qatar. I am getting confidence every kilometre. The pace is very high to be honest. Nasser’s pace is crazy high. I am really shocked when I see the stage times. Sometimes when I do almost no mistakes in a stage...I need to improve a lot. That’s all I can say...”
A double puncture during the morning and then a sixth-stage flat tyre ruined Mads Ostberg’s chance of applying pressure on Al-Attiyah with his Romanian co-driver Sergiu Itu. The Norwegian fought back from fourth place to hold third and is well-placed to attack al-Kuwari on Saturday.
Ostberg said: “Another puncture (SS6) this afternoon. It’s going a bit wrong this time, basically. We tried to be smarter from the start and it just kicked us the other way around. I think this race is about luck or no luck sometimes. With experience, like Nasser, you can see he has no punctures. He knows what he is doing. At least, for me, it makes no difference if I am pushing or not pushing, so I might as well just go...”
Abdullah al-Rawahi and Ata al-Hmoud sustained two slow punctures on the first stage of the morning and then two more flat tyres during the afternoon on their Skoda Fabia RS. The Omani remained in contention for the podium, however, and held fourth place.
He said: “Another two punctures, four in total. I am just happy we made it back here and we are still in a good position to fight for at least second place. One puncture on the second stage of the loop, three kilometres from the end, and the other was on the last stage.”
Rakan al-Rashed is making his debut in Qatar with a Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2 and Portuguese co-driver Hugo Magalhees. He overcame two flat tyres during the afternoon to hold fifth. The Saudi said: “As expected, it wasn’t easy at all. It’s my first time here in Qatar. Everyone was talking about how challenging this rally can be and that has exceeded my expectations. I am happy to be here at the end of the day. We had two punctures but we managed to get back. Now, we manage the race tomorrow and see what happens.”
Nasser Khalifa al-Atya is chasing Masters Championship and MERC points and he and Ziad Chehab were sixth after another solid performance. Denis Krotov and Yury Kulikov held seventh in their SRT Skoda Fabia RS and the Omani duo of Abdullah al-Zubair and Taha al-Zadjali were eighth and first in the MERC2 category in a Subaru Impreza.
Rashid al-Muhannadi guided his Peugeot 208 to ninth and the lead in Rally4, while Jordan’s Shadi Shaban was 10th in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX.
Outside the top 10, Oman’s Zakariya al-Aamri, Lebanon’s Jad al-Aawar, Qatar’s Mohammed al-Atteya, Kuwait’s Jassim al-Muqahwi and India’s Mohammed Mansoor Parol and held 11th to 15th places and were classified second to sixth in MERC2.
Saad al-Harqan and Mohammed al-Marri drove well on their first appearances in the Qatar Motorsport Sports Academy Peugeot 208s and were classified in 20th and 21st.
On Saturday, competitors will tackle two loops of an additional three special stages before the ceremonial finish at Lusail Boulevard. Action gets underway with the Umm Birka stage – the longest of the rally at 21.51km – from 8:33am. Runs through Ras Laffan (9:16am) and Al Thakhira (9:42am) follow before a return to Lusail for a late morning regroup and service.
The three timed tests are repeated in the afternoon from 12:08am, 12:51am and 13:17am with the post-event podium ceremony scheduled for 7pm
Positions after SS7
1. Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah (QAT)/Candido Carrera (ESP) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2; Time: 1hr 00min 40.5sec
2. Abdulaziz al-Kuwari (QAT)/Lorcan Moore (IRL) Citroën C3 Rally 2; 1hr 02min 27.8sec
3. Mads Ostberg (NOR)/Sergiu Itu (ROU) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2; 1hr 02min 32.3sec*
4. Abdullah al-Rawahi (OMA)/Ata al-Hmoud (JOR) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2; 1hr 02min 43.9sec
5. Rakan al-Rashed (KSA)/Hugo Magalhães (POR) Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2; 1hr 06min 36.3sec
6. Nasser Khalifa al-Attiyah (QAT)/Ziad Chehab (LBN) Ford Fiesta Mk II Rally 2; 1hr 07min 11.4sec
7. Denis Krotov (KGZ)/Yury Kulikov (CYP) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2; 1hr 07min 37.4sec
8. Abdullah al-Zubair (OMA)/Taha al-Zadjali (OMA) Subaru Impreza; 1hr 15min 15.0sec
9. Rashid al-Muhannadi (QAT)/Gary McElhinney (IRL) Peugeot 208 Rally 4;1hr 15min 39.1sec
10. Shadi Shaban (JOR)/Samer Issa (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX;; 1hr 15min 41.8sec
11. Zakariya al-Aamri (OMA)/Mohammed al-Mazroui (OMA) Subaru Impreza N14;1hr 15min 54.5sec
12. Jad al-Aawar (LBN)/Vicken Kanledjian (LBN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X;1hr 17min 25.8sec
13. Mohammed al-Atteya (QAT)/Savvas Laos (CYP) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X; 1hr 19min 26.6sec*
14. Jassim al-Muqahwi (KUW)/Suleiman al-Helal (KUW) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X; 1hr 20min 38.7sec
15. Mohamed Mansoor Parol (IND)/Lenin Joseph (IND) Subaru Impreza; 1hr 22min 16.6sec
16. Ahmad Khaled (LBN)/Samer Sfeir (LBN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X; 1hr 23min 04.2sec
17. Ihab al-Shurafa (JOR)/Ahmad Jankhout (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X; 1hr 23min 41.2sec
18. Christiano Gabbarrini (ITA)/Alessandro Forni (ITA) Subaru Impreza WRX STi; 1hr 23min 48.5sec*
19. Payyaakkal ‘Saneem’ Panikkaveettil (IND)/Musa Sherif (IND) Ford Fiesta Rally 2; 1hr 24min 48.7sec
20. Saad al-Harqan (QAT)/Pierre Delorme (FRA) Peugeot 208 Rally 4; 1hr 25min 33.2sec
21. Mohammed al-Marri (QAT)/Yannick Roche (FRA) Peugeot 208 Rally 4; 1hr 27min 12.6sec
22. Ibrahim al-Muhanna (KSA)/Hani al-Noumesi (KSA) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T4); 1hr 29min 41.3sec
23. Shadi El Fakih (LBN)/Joseph Kmeid (LBN) Renault Clio; 1hr 40min 53.0sec
24. Yosra Jazzar (KSA)/Faisal al-Suwayh (KSA) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T4); 1hr 42min 37.3sec
Marco Marotta (ITA)/Lorenzo Rossi (ITA) Yamaha YXZ 1000R (T4); RETIRED – SS7*
Mirko Carrara (ITA)/Stefano Tiraboschi (ITA) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T4); RETIRED – SS5*
Simone Temeroli (SMR)/Davide Simoncini (SMR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX;RETIRED – after SS4*
Stefano Marrini (ITA)/Silvio Valentini (ITA) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX; RETIRED – SS3*
*denotes not registered for the MERC
Sports
Al-attiyah takes massive lead at Qatar International Rally
Punctures hamper rivals’ challenges; al-Kuwari holds second place while Ostberg is in third spot

Abdulaziz al-Kuwari holds second place overall after seven stages.

Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah with Mads Ostberg.

Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah and his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera in action through the northeastern desert at the Qatar International Rally on Friday.