Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah emerged unscathed from one of the most dramatic mornings in FIA Middle East Rally Championship history to extend his lead in the Jordan Rally to a massive 20min 19.5sec after 11 special stages.
Damage sustained to his Ford Fiesta RRC at the end of Thursday evening’s opening stage meant that Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi was not able to restart on Friday.
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But no one envisaged the carnage that would befall Al-Attiyah’s other rivals in the punishing heat and dust of a thrilling October day’s rallying at the Dead Sea.
The Qatari duo of Khalid Al-Suwaidi and Rashid Al-Naimi suffered mechanical issues and Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari lost 23 minutes in the fifth timed test when he clouted a small rock and broke a wheel rim.
All this left Al-Attiyah out on his own as he chases a ninth win in Jordan. “I will try not to lose my concentration now and keep a good rhythm,” said Al-Attiyah, who extended his lead at regular intervals with co-driver Matthieu Baumel.
Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah heading for the history books in Jordan. #JordanRally #رالي_الأردن pic.twitter.com/9BtE0MriOW
— Jordan Motorsport (@MotorsportJo) October 16, 2015
“I am very sad for the retirements for the others, especially for Yazeed (Al-Rajhi) and Khalid (Al-Suwaidi) and the problems for Abdulaziz (Al-Kuwari).”
The demise of three of the fancied front-runners left the door open for the Jordanian Group N driver Husam Salem and his co-driver Nancy Al-Majali to storm through into second overall in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX.
When Salem was delayed for over three minutes in the eighth stage, Jordanian national rally
champion, Khaled Juma, moved up to second and topped Group N in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII. But he fell back to third overall after a time loss on the last stage of the day.
Meanwhile, Al-Kuwari and British co-driver Marshall Clarke recovered from their delays to finish fourth place after passing Ihab Al-Shorafa’s Mitsubishi Lancer on the 11th stage.
