Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah and his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera became embroiled in a fascinating battle for supremacy with Oman’s Abdullah al-Rawahi and his Jordanian co-driver Ata al-Hmoud on the first six stages of the Jordan Rally on Friday.

Al-Rawahi led by 0.8 seconds after the morning’s loop of three speed tests in the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley areas but al-Attiyah was able to benefit from a cleaning stage surface in the afternoon and set-up changes on his Autotek-run Skoda Fabia RS to snatch a 13.5-second overnight advantage.

Al-Attiyah: “It was very interesting. It was hard today to push all the time because of tyre damage on the long one. We knew if we pushed, we would destroy the tyres for the last two stages. The rhythm was good but we had a little high temperature. There could be a problem with the radiator cooling but we change it now. I am quite happy to have a lead. Abdullah is doing an amazing job. We need to be smart to win this race.”

Al-Rawahi, who had a slow puncture at the end of the fourth stage, said: “I think this rally overall is very tough and it is not easy to challenge Nasser over these stages. He has won it (Jordan) 16 times. Being just behind him and able to take some time, I am above happy. Tomorrow, is another day. We must also remember that I have an older car. I think we should be happy with the result today. I think we are on the limit. I don’t think we can push any harder and we don’t want mistakes.”

The two drivers were the class of the field with al-Rawahi also winning the opening round of the Jordan National Championship. Qatar’s Abdulaziz al-Kuwari and his Irish co-driver Lorcan Moore were a distant third in their Citroen C3.

Al-Kuwari said: “It was a tough day. We tried our best but it was not our day. There is a big gap behind me. We will try to change some things on the car to make it more driveable. We were not as fast as Nasser and Abdullah. Let’s see, we have one more day here.”

Rakan Al-Rashed and his Portuguese co-driver Hugo Magalhaes overcame a couple of time delays to hold a solid fourth place in their Jameel Motorsport Toyota GR Yaris. Lebanese driver Bassel Abu Hamdan held fifth in his Skoda Fabia and Oman’s Abdullah al-Zubair was the class of the MERC2 field in a fine sixth position in his Subaru Impreza.

Nasser Khalifa al-Atya was well on course for another strong finish in his Ford Fiesta, as the seventh-placed Qatari chased FIA MERC Master Driver points. Shadi Shaban was eighth and finished second in the opening round of the Jordan National Championship behind Al-Rawahi.

Oman’s Zakariya al-Aamri kept up the pressure on Al-Zubair in ninth and local driver Ihab al-Shorafa rounded off the top 10. Eleventh-placed Rashid al-Mohannadi remains on course to win the FIA MERC4 category in his Peugeot 208 with two rounds to spare.

Saturday’s remaining three stages are repeated twice with action getting underway with a run though the Panorama stage from 9.09ams. The first passes through the Suwayma and Wadi Nar speed tests complete the morning’s loop and the three timed tests are repeated in the afternoon before the traditional ceremonial finish at the Dead Sea.