Agencies/Doha

The winners of the Qatar International Rally are seen on the podium after the presentation ceremony held at the Qatar Motor and Motorcycling Federation premises yesterday
Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah claimed a ninth successive victory in the 2011 Qatar International Rally, round one of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), yesterday.
At the wheel of his new Ford Fiesta S2000, the Dakar Rally winner overcame a serious propshaft problem on Friday to force his way past overnight leader Mubarak al-Hajri and eventually secure victory by the emphatic margin of 3m 38.8s. It was the six-time regional champion’s 39th MERC win and a 10th for Italian co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini.
 “I always felt as though we could do it and I say a special thank you to my team for doing a tremendous job in keeping my car going,” said al-Attiyah. “Winning in Qatar is always special for me and it is a great feeling to get the new championship off to a winning start.”
Al-Hajri’s dream was to become the first individual to win a round of the MERC as a driver and a co-driver, but it was not to be. The Qatari drove superbly over the closing stages with UAE navigator Aref Yousef Mohammed to claim a convincing second position in the overall standings and secure victory on round three of the Qatar national rally series in his Subaru Impreza.
The UAE’s Sheikh Abdullah al-Qassimi became faster as the event progressed in his new Ford Fiesta – he was quickest on the final stage - and third overall was sufficient for the Emirati and his English co-driver Steve Lancaster to leap into second position in the MERC, where individuals have to be registered in advance to score points. Qatar’s Abdulaziz al-Kuwari lost third on the penultimate stage with gearbox woes.
The winner’s brother Khalifa Saleh al-Attiyah lost fourth overall on the final stage with differential failure. Kuwait’s Essam al-Nejadi duly climbed to fourth, while Qatar’s young Sultan al-Suwaidi, Jordan’s Ammar Hijazi and Qatar’s Jaber and Mohammed al-Marri completed the top eight. After a high rate of attrition on the demanding gravel stages, south of Doha, Jordan’s Nancy al-Majali and Kuwait’s Fahad Ashkanani were only other finishers in ninth and 10th. 
The Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) carried out the first anti-doping checks in the history of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship. Three drivers were chosen at random to take part in the checks with support from Dr. Mamoun Abba of the Qatar Olympic anti-doping committee, Hamad Hospital in Doha and EMS.
Senior officials from the various ASNs in FIA-sanctioned Middle East motor sport also met to discuss a wide range of topics in Doha on Friday evening. The meeting covered subjects as far ranging as future events, PR, television, attracting young drivers and the integration of the various zones in the region.
Three of the original 22 cars failed to start day two. Six used SupeRally to rejoin the 13 survivors, but Qatar’s Jarallah Almei, Khalid al-Suwaidi and Abdullah Al-Hajri were unable to continue.
Al-Attiyah began the day 47.2 seconds behind al-Hajri, but his Autotek mechanics had not been able to replace the broken propshaft that cost him so much time on day one.
They attempted to fly in a spare part from England overnight and it got as far as Frankfurt, so a temporary repair and weld was carried out according to team manager Ken Skidmore. “It’s an expensive quick-fit component and we didn’t have a spare, so we managed to bolt the two pieces together and just hope that it would hold and not work out of balance.”
The repair seemed to do the trick and the Qatari was able to win the seventh Nabat Lusail stage and reduce al-Hajri’s lead to 25.4 seconds. Lebanon’s Michel Saleh lost seventh place with engine woes.
Skidmore had warned that the repair and weld could be fragile and al-Attiyah was unable to close the gap in Umm Al Hal. In fact, al-Hajri beat the Ford driver by 12 seconds and extended his overall advantage to 37.3 seconds on a stage where al-Kuwari set the fastest time to preserve third overall. Al-Qassimi managed to squeeze past Khalifa Saleh al-Attiyah into fourth position, but Kuwait’s Mufeed Mubarak and Switzerland’s Edith Weiss retired.
A little more repair work at the Al-Wakra service paid dividends for al-Attiyah and he set a stunning time through the ninth special. He beat al-Hajri by 1m 10.3s and stormed back into a 33 second lead.