(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
The Peninsula
Sohar: Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and his new Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera cruised to an emphatic 6min 13.6sec victory in the 28th Oman International Rally yesterday.
The Qatari secured a record-breaking eighth win in the Sultanate in his Škoda Fabia RS and a staggering 87th career victory in the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) with a seventh different co-driver. He won nine of the 13 special stages, including the Power Stage finale.
Al Attiyah said:“It has been a very good weekend. I am still tired from Dakar. We enjoyed this a lot, the new location for Oman Rally. New co-driver and we have a new car this year and it has been a good start. We decide to go flat out on the Power Stage and we had a really good time. I am happy.”
His co-driver Candido Carrera said:“The first time here. The stages were very nice and I had a nice feeling. It was the first time with Nasser, so we went going step-by-step with the pace notes and the speed. We think we did a very good job. It is a really good rally. For me, the stages are completely different (to the WRC). The surface is harder and there are no big references between notes. In Acropolis and Sardinia, it is easier to see the road. But I like it a lot.”
Rakan Al Rashed returned to the series in impressive style by taking second overall with Portugal's Hugo Magalhães in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2. The Saudi overcame a couple of flat tyres on Friday's opening stage and measured his pace well once Abdulaziz Al Kuwari had blotted his copybook on the last stage of the first day.
Qatar's Nasser Khalifa Al Attiyah and his Lebanese co-driver Ziad Chehab went largely under the radar to deliver a polished performance to snatch the final place on the podium in their Ford Fiesta.
The result marked a perfect start to the veteran's quest to win the maiden MERC Masters Cup.
A delighted Khalifa said:“It was a great event for me to start the season with a podium. I played a good strategy to manage and continue this rally. It was new data for everybody and new terrain. We had some mistakes on the super special stage and we missed some corners but we are happy to be behind young people and be on the podium. The target is to fight for the Masters Cup Trophy. We are looking for that.”
Defending regional champion Abdulaziz Al Kuwari overcame a seventh stage accident and the resultant 10-minute penalty to retain third at the start of the final day in his QMMF-backed Citroën C3.
But the luckless Qatari ground to a halt with suspension issues on the penultimate stage.
Irishman Lorcan Moore performed well on the pace notes.
Al Kuwari said:“We lost only one place. This was a very good loop, nice stages. We took it easy, for sure. The target now is just to finish and take third.
The gap is huge and Rakan is going good. We had a broken anti-roll bar yesterday. So, we drove this morning without the anti-roll bar.”
Saudi Arabia's Ibrahim Al Muhanna (Can-Am) finished seventh and Abdullah Al Rawahi and Ata Al Hmoud benefited from four fastest times and late bad luck for some rivals to lift themselves into an unlikely eighthin the second Autotek Škoda after a cruel retirement on the first stage on Friday morning.
Zakariya Al Ofi claimed victory in the Oman National Championship event with his co-driver Mutasim Al Balushi.
All eyes now turn to the second round of the MERC, the Qatar International Rally, which will take place from February 6 to 8. The event is expected to feature intense competition among the region's top drivers.
2025 Oman International Rally - Final standings (Selected)
1. Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah (QAT)/Candido Carrera (ESP) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2 2hr 12min27.3sec
2. Rakan Al Rashed (SAU)/Hugo Magalhães (PRT) Toyota Yaris Rally 2 2hr 18min 40.9sec
3. Nasser Khalifa Al Attiyah (QAT)/Ziad Chehab (LEB) Ford Fiesta Mk II Rally 2 2hr 36min 32.9sec
4. Rashid Al Muhannadi (QAT)/Gary Mcelhinney (IRL)Peugeot 208 Rally 4 2hr 45min 51.5sec
5. Shadi Shaban (JOR)/Samer Issa (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 2hr 48min 06.7sec
6. Abdullah Al Zubair (OMN)/Taha Al Zadjali (OMN) Subaru Impreza 2hr 52min 30.6sec
7. Ibrahim Al Muhanna (SAU)/Ali Hassan Obaid (ARE) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T4) 3hr 05min 07.8sec
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