Tuesday, 02 January 2024 12:17 GMT

Al-Attiyah In Cruise Control After Seven Stages In Oman


(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah and his co-driver Candido Carrera romped into a massive 3min 32sec lead after seven special stages of the 28th Oman International Rally on Friday.
The Qatari won each of the day's six gravel speed tests over challenging new terrain to the west and north of Sohar and is firmly on course for a record eighth win in the Sultanate in his Skoda Fabia RS.
Al-Attiyah said:“I am happy. It was a good day. The car is working very well and Candido is doing a great job. I feel sorry for Abdulaziz (accident – SS7). We saw him out of the stage. It was 90-right and he went straight on. It was a tricky place. We see tomorrow if we slow down but there is a Power Stage also...”
Despite two punctures on the opening stage of the morning and being forced to use tyre management for the remainder of the loop, Saudi Arabia's Rakan al-Rashed and Portugal's Hugo Magalhaes were the closest challengers in their second-placed Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2. Al-Rashed said:“I think the most important thing was to get some kilometres. It's been a while since we have been in this championship. I think, as we have seen today, it can be really rough. We made a good decision to drive at our pace. We took it easy this afternoon. We learned our lesson this morning.”
Nasser Khalifa al-Attiyah and Ziad Chehab recovered from a small setback on Thursday evening to hold an excellent third overall in their Ford Fiesta.
Defending regional champion Abdulaziz al-Kuwari has opted to run a QMMF-backed Citroen C3 this season and got to grips with the new car from the outset with Irishman Lorcan Moore reading his pace notes. The Qatari held second until he misjudged a 90-right corner, went straight on at his braking point and got wedged on a low wall shortly after the start of the last stage of the day.
Before the accident, he said:“I am getting used to the car every stage. I have to trust my notes a lot but they are very good. The first time in a place like this, a lot of crests and corners. It's not easy. I am trying to be more confident in the car. Lorcan is doing a very good job. I was talking to Nasser and he agreed that the stages are not easy.
“Citroen promised to give us support. They want one car in the Middle East. Since Khalid al-Qassimi, 10 years ago, there has been no Citroen. Our boss at QMMF, Nicolas Bernardi, is from France and he suggested that we tried both cars, the Citroen and the Skoda in Europe. We did a training camp for one week before Dakar and I was happy with the car.”
A mechanical issue near the end of the first stage of the morning proved costly for Abdullah al-Rawahi and Ata al-Hmoud. The incident damaged a rear hub and brake on the Autotek Skoda and put the Omani out of the running for a third win on his home event.
He explained:“Everything felt really good at the beginning and we were pushing. I think three or four kilometres before the end, the rear side of the car completely came off. We didn't hit anything. We are not sure what happened. The onboards don't show anything. Now we hope to continue, get experience and try to improve our position.”
Jordan's Shadi Shaban and Samer Issa held fourth overall and Qatar's Rashid al-Muhannadi teamed up with Gary Mcelhinney in fifth in a Peugeot 208 Rally 4.
The Omani duo of Abdullah al-Zubair and Taha al-Zadjali were sixth and had control of the MERC2 category in their Subaru Impreza, despite dropping three minutes on the penultimate stage.
Jordan's Ihab al-Shorafa (Mitsubishi), Saudi Arabia's Ibrahim al-Muhanna (Can-Am), India's Saneem Payyakkal (Ford) and Yosra Jazzar (Can-Am) rounded off a depleted top 10. On Saturday, competitors will tackle two loops of the remaining three special stages before the ceremonial finish at the Sohar Entertainment Centre.
Action gets underway with a first pass through Al-Akak (25.20km) at 09.18hrs and crews then tackle Yanboa (13.45km) and Misyal A'sidr (19.32km) before returning to Sohar for a midday regrouping and service. The three specials will be repeated in the afternoon before the ceremonial podium finish takes centre stage from 18.15hrs.

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