Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and Italian navigator Giovanni Bernacchini in action during day two of the Qatar International Rally yesterday.
DOHA: Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah fended off a fierce first day challenge from fellow countryman Abdulaziz Al Kuwari to lead the 2014 QMMF Qatar International Rally yesterday.
Partnered by the diminutive Italian navigator Giovanni Bernacchini, Al Attiyah won three of the day’s six gravel special stages and reached the overnight halt just 5.5 seconds ahead of rival Al Kuwari and his Irish co-driver Killian Duffy.
Al Kuwari also won three specials to set up the prospect of a thrilling showdown across the Qatar deserts today.
“Abdulaziz is driving well, but I am not too bothered,” said Al Attiyah. “I have my strategy. You will see tomorrow.”
But Al Attiyah deliberately left the day’s final service one minute late and incurred a 10-second penalty that put him behind Al Kuwari in the overall rankings and, more importantly, behind him in the running order for today.
“Yes, I am happy with my performance, especially since this is my first event since WRC in Spain,” said Al Kuwari. “But there is a long way to go. One rock, one corner and it could all change so quickly.”
The Ford Fiesta duo had been in a class of their own from the start of a day where only 10 of the 19 starters reached the finish and the list of retirements included the Saudi drivers Yazeed Al Rajhi and Saeed Al Mouri, Kuwaiti Saleh bin Eidan and Jordanian Ala’a Rasheed.
Tyre issues plagues the UAE’s Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi and Ulster co-driver Chris Patterson and the pair finished the day in a distant third place in a Citroen DS3 RRC, 2min 17.3sec behind Al Attiyah.
Kuwaiti Masoud Al Saleh climbed to fourth near the end when Rasheed stopped his Ford Fiesta. A gearbox change and a resultant time penalty pushed Abdullah Al Kuwari down to fifth position, while sixth-placed Mohamed Al Mutawaa was the best of three surviving Abu Dhabi Racing-entered juniors running in their Citroen DS3s.
Nada Zeidan was the last of the runners to complete all six stages and held 10th position and first place in the Ladies’ category.
Earlier yesterday, Al Qassimi took a lead of just seven-tenths of a second over Al Attiyah into the first 21.93km Umm Wishah stage in the morning. A real risk of punctures was on everyone’s minds, although Al Attiyah set the target time of 10min 48.6sec and beat Al Qassimi by 10.9sec to take the outright lead.
Al Kuwari had spun on Thursday night’s super special and lost around six seconds, but the 2012 rally winner began the gravel stages well and only dropped a second to Al Attiyah in Umm Wishah. Al Rajhi was third quickest and closed to within four seconds of Al-Qassimi, who slipped to third overall.
Predictably, the leading quartet had already pulled away; Saleh bin Eidan was over one and a half minutes adrift of the WRC regulars in fifth. Abu Dhabi junior Mansoor Bel Helai lost time near the end of the stage changing a tyre and Saeed Al Mouri was forced out with a steering arm failure on his Skoda after just 1.5km of the special. Qatar’s Hitmi Khalifa Al Hitmi also hit clutch trouble and retired.
Edith Weiss completed the special, but returned to service with suspension damage.
“We will fix it now and then I will push Nasser tomorrow,” joked Weiss. “But I am not sure from which direction..!”
Al Attiyah was quickest by half a second through the 19.47km of Al Shabana to extend his lead over Al Kuwari, but bin Eidan lost his hold on fifth place after overheating issues forced him to shut down his Ford’s engine.
Al Qassimi dropped 24 seconds to the front-running Qataris with tyre-related issues and Al Rajhi stopped on the road section to the stage after breaking a drive shaft.
Al Kuwari continued his impressive form through Al Kharsaah and the quickest time reduced Al Attiyah’s lead to 1.5sec at the midday service, where Al Qassimi again complained of tyre problems and Abdullah Al Kuwari’s Motortune mechanics began to prepare to change the Qatari’s gearbox.
Mohamed Al Mutawaa was the best of the Citroen juniors and held a 48.9sec lead over Mohammed Al Sahlawi. Nada rounded off the surviving teams in 14th place, although Abu Dhabi Racing’s rookie Juma Al Falaisi did not start the fourth stage.
Al Kuwari continued his impressive form and a second successive stage win was enough for the Qatari to take a 2.4-second outright lead in SS4, but his advantage was short lived and Al Attiyah regained a 19.2-second advantage with his second fastest time in the re-run of Al Shabana.
Abdullah Al Kuwari retained sixth behind Ala’a Rasheed and Masoud Al Saleh, despite incurring a one-minute time penalty.
THE PENINSULA
Qatar’s Abdulaziz Al Kuwari and his Irish co-driver Killian Duffy take a bend on the gravel during one of the stages yesterday.
