Qatari star Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah won the Cyprus Rally for the seventh time in his career and for the second consecutive year yesterday.
Al-Attiyah, along with his French co-driver Matthieu Baumel, romped to victory in the second race of the Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) in a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5.
Al-Attiyah had won the Oman Rally in February. The third and final round of the truncated MERC series is the Rally of Lebanon in November, where al-Attiyah could extend his regional record with a 16th title.
At the Cyprus Rally, al-Attiyah’s seven wins are a record, three more than that of Sebastian Loeb.
Yiangou Panagiotis-Kyriakou finished second in a Hyundai i20, while the podium was completed by Christos Demosthenous-Costas Pavlou in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. The duo had clawed their way back up from 12th after SS2 to start the final day in fourth position.
Two other Cypriot teams followed — Savva Savvas-Andrea Papandreou in fourth and Sofianos Rousos and Andreas Giannakou in fifth.
The 2WD category was won by Chrysostomos Panteli-Thomas Theofanous in a Ford Fiesta ahead of Constantinos Televantos-Takis Stavrou in a Peugeot 208.
As many as 21 crews started the race, 13 of whom managed to finish the first day. Under the rally regulations, six of those who left, returned yesterday. The race covered a total of 510km of which 178km were the 10 special stages.
T he last one, which was the Eneos Super Special Stage, was not held after the government’s decision to ban the presence of spectators at all sport events in Cyprus.
While it has never been enough to just be the fastest to win the Cyprus Rally, al-Attiyah has gotten the job done with ease in the past.
This year, the Qatari was happy to drive with consistency without “hurting” his vehicle. He won only three stages, while sharing a stage win with local driver Alex Tsouloftas, after tying for the exact same time, a rarity in rally racing.
The Cypriot, who also raced with a Volkswagen Polo, won the first two stages, before tying with al-Attiyah on the third. However, a broken right axle in the fourth stage cost him dearly in the battle and he retired on the next stage.
The 2018 winner Simos Galatariotis was also very fast yesterday winning a special stage and finishing in the top three in three more.
Overall classification (top 5)
1. Nasser al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Volkswagen Polo 2:46:25.1
2. Yiangou Panagiotis (CYP)/Kyriakou Panagiotis (CYP) Hyundai i20 +17:10.4
3. Christos Demosthenous (CYP)/Costas Pavlou (CYP) Mitsubishi Lancer +19:03.2
4. Savva Savvas (CYP)/Andrea Papandreou (CYP) Mitsubishi Lancer +20:29.4
5. Sofianos Rousos (CYP)/ Andreas Giannakou (CYP) Mitsubishi Lancer +22:03.6
Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel in action during the Cyprus Rally yesterday. (Facebook/CyprusRally)
