Nasser Al Attiyah incurred a 10-second penalty and surrendered his overnight lead of the Qatar International Rally, round one of the Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), to compatriot Abdulaziz Al Kuwari while Abu Dhabi Racing driver Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi will begin the final day today in third overall.
Defending and nine-time MERC champion Al Attiyah was penalised for leaving the service area one minute late at the end of day one yesterday.
This meant that the Qatari’s lead of 5.5 seconds over Al Kuwari turned into a 4.5-second deficit and Al Attiyah will now not start first on the road today.
The team’s official reason wasgiven as time taken to “change an anti-roll bar”, but there is an advantage to be gained by not running first through new special stages and it appears that Al Attiyah will now use the penalty to his advantage.
Tyre issues and irregular tracks on the stage plagued Sheikh Khalid and his Ulster co-driver Chris Patterson’s progress on Friday, the pair finishing a distant third place in a Citroen DS3 RRC, 2min 57.3sec behind Al Kuwari.
Speaking to Sport360° at the end of the day’s test, Sheikh Khalid said: “It was a very difficult day with lotsof up and down. The stages were unbelievable, lots of tracks made by the local drivers driving left and right and off the stage.
“We are still playing with the setting of the car to get the best feel ofthe DS3 as possible. The terrain was very bumpy so getting there [last stage] was important. The car was bottoming out, we had overheating problems as a result of which we lost four minutes.
“Then when we got to the last stage there was a problem with the stage itself and we lost I think about another two minutes. But we wanted to finish the stage so we cruised along a bit because it is better to finish among the points.
“Tomorrow is another day, let’s see what happens; we will try and defend out position.”
Meanwhile, overnight leader Al Kuwari said: “I am happy with my performance, especially since this is my first event since WRC in Spain [last year]. But there is a long way to go. One rock, one corner and it could all change so quickly.”
