MOTORSPORT - NASSER Saleh Al-Attiyah and his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera secured a comfortable victory at the inaugural Jeddah-based Rally Saudi Arabia, powered by Jameel Motorsports, yesterday.
The Qatari won five of the day’s six gravel stages to the north of the Red Sea city to earn a record-breaking 89th career MERC rally win, as he bids for a 20th FIA Middle East Rally Championship title. His Autotek Škoda Fabia RS suffered one time-consuming puncture on the second stage of the final day but Al-Attiyah hit back to win his third successive MERC event with Carrera by 1min 37.4sec.
Al-Attiyah said: “It was nice to win the rally. But the good thing was that we had the rally back here in Saudi Arabia. I cannot wait for the next one in November. I want to do it in a Rally1 car!”
Finn Juho Hänninen and his co-driver Janni Hussi entered the event in a Toyota Yaris for test and research purposes on behalf of the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT. But the duo won two stages and finished in a comfortable second position, although they were not registered for MERC points.
Hänninen added: “It was okay. We saw all the stages and we learned a lot. From that side it was a good journey. Nasser is the king of the Middle East. I knew that before coming here. The result was not that important. We learned so many things. It’s nice to be second after Nasser. It was nice to see him again because we competed together many years ago.”
Saudi driver Rakan Al-Rashed teamed up with Hugo Magalhães to finish on the final step of the podium with his Toyota and pick up valuable points in his quest to hunt down Al-Attiyah with three rounds of the regional series still to run.
Qatar’s Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and his Irish team-mate Lorcan Moore moved briefly into third overall during the final morning before stopping to change a flat tyre mid-stage.
That time loss pushed them back to fourth, a position they held to the finish to stay ahead of Oman’s Abdullah Al-Rawahi and his British co-driver Ross Whittock. Three punctures had cost Al-Rawahi dearly on day one.
Hamza Bakhashab switched from the cross-country discipline to tackle his first special stage rally in a Can-Am Maverick R and the Saudi finished sixth with Poland’s Macin Pasek reading his pace notes.
Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya is chasing glory in this year’s new FIA MERC Master Driver category and the Qatari guided his Ford Fiesta to seventh and a useful haul of championship points. Oman’s Abdullah Al-Zubair dominated the MERC2 category from the start in his Subaru Impreza and moved firmly into title contention against fellow countryman Zakariya Al-Aamri.
Bassel Abu Hamdan returned to action after a lengthy lay-off to take ninth overall and Qatar’s Rashed Al-Mohannadi rounded off the top 10 in his Peugeot 208 and won the MERC4 category.
Yesterday morning’s action centred around the Al-Ghulah (11.70km), Asfan (26.55km) and Thahban (8.46km) stages. All 22 starters began the opening stage, with Qatar’s Saad Al-Harwan and Mohammed Ak-Marri rejoining at the rear of the field after day one retirements.
Al-Attiyah had the bit between his teeth to extend his advantage over Hänninen to 41.8 seconds with the fastest time. Al-Kuwari overhauled Al-Rashed to take third place with the second fastest time but Joanna Hassoun retired with tyre issues after a puncture.
A puncture threatened to derail Al-Attiyah’s challenge in the second special, although the Qatari drove to the finish and dropped only 34.9 seconds to Hänninen, as the Finn reduced the lead to just 6.9 seconds. Al-Rashed regained third place when Al-Kuwari dropped three minutes with a puncture.
Both Jassim Al-Muqahwi and Mohammed Al-Shorafa retired in the early part of the special and Saad Al-Harqan completed the stage and was then sidelined.
The first run through the Thahban stage rounded off the morning’s action and Al-Attiyah was back in business with the fastest time. That enabled him to reach the service point in Jeddah with a lead of 23.6 seconds over Hänninen.
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