Nasser Al Attiyah’s bid to wrap up a maiden WRC 2 title at the final round of the World Rally Championship, the Wales Rally GB, hit a roadblock after the Qatari slipped to eighth overall with gearbox issues on the first day yesterday.
The only one capable of challenging Al Attiyah for the title is Jari Ketomaa of Finland who lies 20 points behind the Qatari and, crucially he has now taken a commanding lead going into the overnight halt yesterday.
Ketomaa must win the event to have any chance of securing the title, but for that to happen Al Attiyah must finish below seventh at the end of the rally tomorrow, or not finish the rally at all.
A win for Ketomaa and a seventh place finish for Al Attiyah would hand the title to the Qatari by a single point.
Currently, Al Attiyah is one minute 34.2 seconds behind Ketomaa and the Qatari is unlikely to take the risk of catching the Finn, but will in all likelihood try and displace Valeriy Gorban from seventh place.
The task though will not prove to be an easy one, as Gorban is 13.6 seconds ahead of Al Attiyah and the Qatari will have to bring all his experience into play in order to move at least one step up the ladder come the end of the event.
Meanwhile, in the main WRC category, Frenchman Sebastien Ogier, who has already sealed the championship, has taken a slender 6.6sec lead over Volkswagen team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala, with M-Sport’s Mikko Hirvonen completing the top three going into today’s second day.
