DEAD SEA (JORDAN): Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera delivered a flawless performance on Friday, winning all six demanding special stages to seize a commanding lead after the opening leg of the Jordan Rally, the third round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC).
Driving the Autotek Motorsport Škoda Fabia RS, Al-Attiyah dominated the competition throughout the day and finished with an impressive overall lead of 1min 12.8sec at the overnight halt.
“It was a good feeling all day and we won every stage,” said Al-Attiyah. “We have a good gap now, a good lead. We pushed from the morning and took good time. This afternoon, we managed the pace and we will try to do the same tomorrow. We also sent the data to the engineer just to make sure everything is okay.”
The stages, held across the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea regions, proved challenging for the drivers. Oman’s Abdullah Al-Rawahi and co-driver Ata Al-Hmoud admitted that opting for medium tyres during the opening loop of stages in their Oman Rally Team Škoda Fabia RS turned out to be a costly mistake. Al-Rawahi trailed the Qatari star by 51.4 seconds at the midday regroup and failed to recover lost ground later in the day.
“We took the wrong tyre choice this morning,” Al-Rawahi explained. “We went with the medium compound knowing it was a risk, but we lost grip after the first stage. We wanted to take the chance and it either had to work or go bad.”
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Hamza Bakhashab, competing in his first full MERC campaign in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 backed by Jameel Motorsport, settled comfortably into third place alongside Irish co-driver Lorcan Moore.
