Cyprus: Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah showed winning form in the eastern Mediterranean today, to take a one minute 30.2 secs overnight lead at the 2012 Cyprus Rally.
The final round of the 2012 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) and the penultimate round of this year’s FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), the event delivered its usual wealth of action and drama as the world’s best drivers battle it out under the Cyprus sun.
Defending IRC champ Andreas Mikkelsen took the early lead on Friday in his Skoda Fabia S2000, winning the thrilling Super Special Stage in downtown Pafos to get the event underway in dramatic style. A confident drive by the Norwegian saw him set a winning time of just 2m 48.6secs on the all-tarmac LTV Super Special Stage - 4.4s faster than the Subaru Impreza of second placed Jarkko Nikara of Finland.
Yesterday, Mikkelsen had bad luck with puncture woes slowing the driver on the first stage of Day 1 - SS2 – Koilinia, which consists of mostly gravel stage.
This provided the perfect opportunity to allow Al Attiyah to charge to the head of the field in his Ford Fiesta RRC.
The Qatari’s performance was more than enough to see him take the overall event lead, with Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi in second place.
The drama continued in the next stage - SS2, with Austria’s Andreas Aigner, one of the main contenders for the IRC Production Cup – stopping in the stage with brake failure on his Subaru.
Aigner said he planned to restart today. Mikkelsen’s puncture dropped him to eighth overall but the Norwegian fought back hard on the next stage of the competition, the SS3 - Salamiou, which consists of 57 percent tarmac.
The Norweigian driver sprinted through the mixed surface stage in a time of 8m 38.0 secs.
By the end of the SS3 stage, Al Attiyah continued to lead the event overall, with first-time Cyprus entrant Sepp Wiegand of Germany sitting in second in his Skoda Fabia S2000.
In the SS4 Panayia) stage, that consists of 100 per cent gravel – was the longest of the morning stages and despite reports of ongoing suspension problems, Mikkelsen powered through in an impressive time of 30m 03.1 secs.
Al Attiyah, slowed by driveshaft and alternator issues, lost ground but still made it through the stage a creditable 18.7 seconds behind the Norwegian.
Al Attiyah’s battling drive was enough to see him head into service with an overall lunchtime lead of 1:33.6 over Mikkelsen, who was helped into second place by a costly Wiegand spin.
In a repeat loop of the morning stages, Mikkelsen continued to set a blistering pace, taking the SS5 (Koilinia) stage 11.5secs faster than Al Attiyah to make it four stage wins out of five.
The Qatari’s pace was enough for him to retain his overall lead into the SS6 - Salamiou stage, but Mikkelsen once again set the fastest time, 3.6 secs faster than Al Attiyah.
Al Attiyah showed all signs of not only being comfortable with the lead he has built over Mikkelsen, but of wanting to extend it even further in the SS7 -Panayia stage.
The Qatari blasted through the last stage of the day a full 11.5 secs faster than his Norwegian rival, who suffered further puncture problems. The stage also proved disastrous for Wiegand, who exited with reported broken steering.
Al Attiyah’s drive was enough to give a 1m 30.2secs overnight lead in the event, with Mikkelsen in second place and Qatar’s Abdulaziz Al Kuwari in third place in his MINI JCW.
Al Kuwari entered the Cyprus event as MERC leader with 52 points, with Al Attiyah and Roger Feghali trailing. Both have 43 points. Overnight, Al Kuwari trails Al Attiyah by 6mins 0.7 seconds.
Today six special stages will take place amounting to 100.32km. THE PENINSULA
