automobilsport
Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel cruised to the fastest time of 3min 25.6sec on the opening 3.55km super special stage of the Oman International Rally, round one of the 2020 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), on Thursday afternoon.
After the ceremonial start at the Oman Automobile Association, teams tackled the first FIA stage in Oman for five years before the action switches to the famous sinuous gravel trails in the Al-Hajar mountains on Friday and Saturday.
Al-Attiyah guided his Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 to an overnight lead of 5.9 seconds with Oman’s Abdullah Al-Ruwahi, partnered by Jordanian navigator Ata Al-Hmoud, getting to grips with his Ford Fiesta R5 for the first time to snatch second place.
Al-Attiyah said: “The super special is short but I like the stages in Oman. I say thanks to the organisers for hosting this special stage. We have a long two days ahead. Let’s see how we do and how we can end the rally.”
Al-Ruwahi added: “This was a fast stage and I enjoyed it. But the most important thing is tomorrow. We have six stages and we have a different strategy for these stages. Hopefully we can finish the rally and get a good result.”
Kuwait’s Meshari Al-Thefiri continued his recent domination of the MERC 2 category into a new season with the third fastest time and the lead in the showroom section in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. He and Irish co-driver Derek O’Brien finished the stage 10.9 seconds ahead of Oman’s Zakariya Al-Ofi, who was second in MERC 2 and fifth overall, behind fourth-placed Qatari Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah and his Italian co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini.
Al-Thefiri said: “The stage was good and quite exciting. We are in Group N and I wil try to fo my best and be as fast as possible. The stages are a little bit difficult and we have to be fast enough to win them.”
The Lebanese duo of Henry Kahy and Rony Maroun began the driver’s defence of his ERC 3 title in solid style by holding the two-wheel drive advantage in their Škoda Fabia. Kuwait’s Jassim Al-Muqahwi brought up the rear of the international field after incurring a jump-start penalty.
Zakariya Al-Amri claimed the fastest time in the National Rally that ran before the FIA protagonists took to the stage. The Omani guided his Subaru Impreza STi to a time of 3min 57sec to take a lead of 8.7 seconds over Ghaith Al-Qassimi into the night halt.
After official scrutineering, 11 started the FIA event and seven were permitted to take part in the National Rally.
Teams face two loops of three special stages on Friday (February 7th), starting with the first pass through the 19.20km of Al-Misfah at 09.59hrs. The 16.1 km of Saal follows at 10.32hrs and precedes Madinat Al-Irfan (11.6km) from 11.20hrs. The stages are then repeated in the afternoon.