Defending regional champion Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah took full advantage of late problems for Ulsterman Kris Meeke to hammer home his advantage after a fascinating four gravel special stages of the Qatar International Rally on Saturday.
The two rivals shared a pair of stage wins apiece through the northern deserts and were separated by 10.3 seconds before the last action of the day. Meeke and English navigator Sebastian Marshall damaged the underside of their Skoda Fabia R5 after a heavy landing over a jump and were forced to stop after the stage.
The actual time loss was only 46.9 seconds, but the radiator had failed after the impact and damaged the intercooler. Rather than risk damaging the engine more seriously, Meeke stopped the Fabia on the road section and had to be towed back to Losail with hefty time penalties later awarded that will drop him down to sixth place on Sunday’s restart under Rally2 rules.
hat drama enabled Al Attiyah and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel to guide their Autotek Volkswagen Golf GTi R5 to the night halt with a 1min 40.6sec advantage over Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and new Irish co-driver James Fulton in their Skoda Fabia R5.
“It was a good day for us,” said Attiyah. “It was not easy. Kris Meeke was pushing really hard. The level was really high so I am very happy.”
Al Kuwari, the 2012 Qatar International Rally winner, had not been on the leading duo’s pace in the last two stages after a flat tyre and dust issues, but the Qatari finished the day comfortably clear of third-placed Khalid Al Suwaidi and his navigator Hugo Maghalaes.
“We started well on the first two stages, where the gap was not too big to Nasser and Kris,” said Kuwari.
“The second loop we had some problems with dust. I stopped on one hairpin, where I could not see the road at all. On the last stage we had a flat tyre, front-left. Second place is not bad though and tomorrow is longer and tougher than today. The car was good, the team did well and so did my new co-driver. It is not easy to read the roads here.”
Nasser Khalifa Al Atya also benefited from Meeke’s issues and climbed to fourth overall with Kuwait’s Meshari Al Thefiri driving impressively into fifth place and a comfortable lead in MERC 2.
Sheikh Suhaim Al Thani belied his lack of rallying experience to post an impressive debut drive to sixth in the Motorsport Italia-run Skoda. Oman’s Zakariya Al-Ofi was seventh and second in MERC 2 and Saudi Arabia’s Salef Al-Saif led the FIA T4 section in his Can-Am with eighth.
Qatar’s Rashid Al Mohannadi and Lebanon’s Ahmad Khaled rounded off the top 10. Shadi El Fakih and MERC 3 leader Henry Kahy were 11th and 12th.
Ahmed Al Mohannadi led the Qatar National Rally at the end of the day by 53.2 seconds in his Can-Am from Khalid Al Mohannadi. Qatar-based Ahmed Allouh and Lebanon’s Jad Aawar were third and fourth.
On Sunday, drivers will face two more difficult loops of three northerly desert stages on the final leg. The opening special at Al Khor (18.30km) gets proceedings underway at 08.35hrs and precedes the QMMF stage (22.02km) and Ras Laffan (21.39km), starting at 09.55hrs and 10.45hrs, respectively.
After regroup and service at the Losail Sports Arena, the three timed tests are repeated at 12.05hrs, 12.45hrs and 13.25hrs. The rally then concludes with the post-event press conference (19.15hrs) and the ceremonial finish (19.45hrs) at Katara.
2021 Qatar International Rally – positions after SS5 (unofficial)
1. Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 44min 57.6sec
2. Abdulaziz Al Kuwari (QAT)/James Fulton (IRL) Skoda Fabia R5 Evo 46min 38.2sec
3. Khalid Al Suwaidi (QAT)/Hugo Magalhães (POR) Skoda Fabia R5 47min 09.8sec
4. Nasser Khalifa Al Atya (QAT)/Georges Nader (LEB) Ford Fiesta R5 51min 57.2sec
5. Meshari Al Thefiri (KWT)/Nasser Al Kuwari (QAT) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X (MERC 2) 53min 51.1sec
6. Sheikh Suhaim Al Thani (QAT)/Hamad Al-Yafei (QAT) Skoda Fabia R5 Evo 56min 10.1sec
7. Zakariya Al Aufi (OMN)/Ammar Al Balushi (OMN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX (MERC 2) 56min 46.3sec
8. Saleh Al Saif (SAU)/Oriol Vidal (ESP) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T4) 57min 45.2sec
9. Rashid Al Mohannadi (QAT)/Yousef Juma (JOR) Subaru Impreza (MERC 2) 58min 57.6sec
10. Ahmad Khaled (LEB)/Musa Djiyerian (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X (MERC 2) 59min 07.7sec
11. Shadi El Fakih (LEB)/Samer Sfeir (LEB) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX (MERC 2) 1hr 05min 51.1sec
12. Henry Kahy (LEB)/Carlos Hanna (LEB) Škoda Fabia 1.6 (MERC 3) 1hr 09min 08.1sec
Positions after SS5 (unofficial)
1. Ahmed Al Mohannadi (QAT)/Mubarak Al Khulaifi (QAT) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T3) 56min 12.8sec
2. Khalid Al Mohannadi (QAT)/Kirill Shubin (RUS) Polaris RXR 1000 (T3) 57min 06.0sec
3. Ahmed Allouh (QAT)/Firas Allouh (QAT) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T3) 58min 04.4sec
4. Jad Al Aawar (LEB)/Vicken Kanledjian (LEB) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T4) 1hr 01min 30.2sec
