LUSAIL (Qatar): Nasser Saleh al Attiyah and his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera forged into a comfortable lead of 1min 47.3sec after six challenging gravel stages through the northeastern desert at the Qatar International Rally on Friday.
The Qatari crushed his rivals through the opening three speed tests that constituted the morning’s loop and won two of the afternoon’s repeat passes in his Skoda Fabia RS Rally 2. He said: “Very good day. We did a good job and I am happy. We had only one puncture (SS5) and the rest was good. If you have a puncture, it will be a disaster. We try to keep the pace like this afternoon. We lose two or three seconds from our pace, but I am happy.”
Abdulaziz al Kuwari admitted that it felt strange to be running as the first car on the road and he took some time to acclimatise. Along with Irish co-driver Lorcan Moore, the current regional champion guided his new Citroen C3 to second place overnight.
Al Kuwari said: “I think this is my first proper rally in the Citroen. I am very happy. It is a good car and the feeling was good. Lorcan did a very good job. It is not easy to read the roads at that speed in Qatar. I am getting confidence every kilometre. The pace is very high to be honest. Nasser’s pace is crazy high. I am really shocked when I see the stage times. Sometimes when I do almost no mistakes in a stage...I need to improve a lot. That’s all I can say...”
A double puncture during the morning and then a sixth-stage flat tyre ruined Mads Ostberg’s chance of applying pressure on Al Attiyah with his Romanian co-driver Sergiu Itu. The Norwegian fought back from fourth place to hold third and is well-placed to attack Al Kuwari on Saturday.
Ostberg said: “Another puncture (SS6) this afternoon. It’s going a bit wrong this time, basically. We tried to be smarter from the start and it just kicked us the other way around. I think this race is about luck or no luck sometimes. With experience, like Nasser, you can see he has no punctures. He knows what he is doing. At least, for me, it makes no difference if I am pushing or not pushing, so I might as well just go...”
AL RAWAHI REMAIN IN CONTENTION
Abdullah al Rawahi and Ata al Hmoud sustained two slow punctures on the first stage of the morning and then two more flat tyres during the afternoon on their Skoda Fabia RS. The Omani remained in contention for the podium, however, and held fourth place.
He said: “Another two punctures, four in total. I am just happy we made it back here and we are still in a good position to fight for at least second place. One puncture on the second stage of the loop, three kilometres from the end, and the other was on the last stage.”
Rakan al Rashed is making his debut in Qatar with a Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2 and Portuguese co-driver Hugo Magalhaes. He overcame two flat tyres during the afternoon to hold fifth.
Nasser Khalifa al Atya is chasing Masters Championship and Merc points and he and Ziad Chehab were sixth after another solid performance. Denis Krotov and Yury Kulikov held seventh in their SRT Skoda Fabia RS and the Omani duo of Abdullah al Zubair and Taha al Zadjali were eighth and first in the Merc2 category in a Subaru Impreza.
Rashid al Muhannadi guided his Peugeot 208 to ninth and the lead in Rally4, while Jordan’s Shadi Shaban was 10th in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX.
Outside the top 10, Oman’s Zakariya al Aamri, Lebanon’s Jad al Aawar, Qatar’s Mohammed al Atteya, Kuwait’s Jassim al Muqahwi and India’s Mohammed Mansoor Parol and held 11th to 15th places and were classified second to sixth in Merc2.
Saad al Harqan and Mohammed al Marri drove well on their first appearances in the Qatar Motorsport Sports Academy Peugeot 208s and were classified in 20th and 21st.
All 28 crews survived the late night super special in Lusail, although Simone Temeroli was handed a 10-minute time penalty and plummeted to the foot of the rankings before the restart. Ostberg had one of his five-second penalties rescinded and was given the stage win and the overnight lead, as Al Kuwari led crews into the 16.94km of the opening Waab al Mashrab stage in the northeast of the country.
The reigning regional champion stopped the clocks in 10min 05.3sec but a flying Al Attiyah was 18.7 seconds quicker than his rival and 17 faster than Al Rawahi, who had a slow puncture. Ostberg was also no match for the Qatari and lost his miniscule lead after dropping 7.5 seconds on the stage. Al Rashed was a distant fifth. Abdullah al Zubair led the Merc 2 runners and all 28 crews completed the stage.
The last stage of a rapid-fire morning loop was Al Khor (17.25km). Al Attiyah stopped the clocks in 9min 14.2sec to take another fastest time and headed for the regroup and service in Lusail with a stunning lead of 1min 01.9sec over Al Kuwari after Ostberg dropped 1min 27sec to the leader with a double puncture and slipped behind Al Rawahi into fourth. Al Rashed retained a distant fifth and Ahmad Khaled gained a slender Merc2 advantage.
Al Attiyah said: “We push. It was not easy because I know Mads is very fast as well. But it was a good plan. We win all three stages. I am happy with the set-up of the car. The afternoon will be rougher but we will try to do our best.”
The three specials were repeated in the afternoon. Al Kuwari shaved 1.7 seconds off his morning’s run but still ceded 13.3 seconds to Al Attiyah, who suffered a flat tyre. Ostberg snatched the stage win and closed the gap on Al Rawahi in the battle for third place. Al Zubair regained the advantage over Khaled and Zakariya al Aamri in a tense Merc2 tussle. Italy’s Simone Temeroli did not start the second loop after engine issues and Mirko Carrara stopped in the stage.
Al Attiyah was slightly slower on his second run through Al Waab but he still managed to take the stage win and increase his overall lead over Al Kuwari to 1min 31.2sec. Ostberg punctured, was second quickest and moved to within one-tenth of a second of Al Rawahi in the duel for third. Khaled ground to a halt midway through the stage and lost six minutes and Al Zubair was able to extend his lead in Merc2.
Al Khor 2 was the final stage of the day and Al Attiyah stayed clear of trouble to clock the fastest time and reach the overnight halt with a massive lead of 1min 47.3sec. Ostberg was second and managed to overhaul Al Rawahi and move into third overall. Marco Marotta retired in the last stage.
2025 Qatar International Rally – positions after SS7
1. Nasser Saleh al Attiyah (QAT)/Candido Carrera (ESP), Skoda Fabia RS Rally 2, 1hr 00min 40.5sec
2. Abdulaziz al Kuwari (QAT)/Lorcan Moore (IRL), Citroen C3 Rally 2, 1hr 02min 27.8sec
3. Mads Ostberg (NOR)/Sergiu Itu (ROU), Skoda Fabia RS Rally 2, 1hr 02min 32.3sec
4. Abdullah al Rawahi (OMA)/Ata al Hmoud (JOR), Skoda Fabia RS Rally 2, 1hr 02min 43.9sec
5. Rakan al Rashed (KSA)/Hugo Magalhaes (POR), Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2, 1hr 06min 36.3sec
6. Nasser Khalifa al Attiyah (QAT)/Ziad Chehab (LBN), Ford Fiesta Mk II Rally 2, 1hr 07min 11.4sec
7. Denis Krotov (KGZ)/Yury Kulikov (CYP), Skoda Fabia RS Rally 2, 1hr 07min 37.4sec
8. Abdullah al Zubair (OMA)/Taha al Zadjali (OMA), Subaru Impreza 1hr 15min 15.0sec
9. Rashid al Muhannadi (QAT)/Gary McElhinney (IRL), Peugeot 208 Rally 4, 1hr 15min 39.1sec
10. Shadi Shaban (JOR)/Samer Issa (JOR), Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, 1hr 15min 41.8sec
11. Zakariya al Aamri (OMA)/Mohammed al Mazroui (OMA), Subaru Impreza N14, 1hr 15min 54.5sec
12. Jad al Aawar (LBN)/Vicken Kanledjian (LBN), Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, 1hr 17min 25.8sec
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