SUSPENSION SCARE FAILS TO PREVENT AL-ATTIYAH 🇶🇦 FROM CLAIMING RECORD-BREAKING 13TH VICTORY IN JORDAN
FIA MERC A FULL 2019
SUSPENSION SCARE FAILS TO PREVENT AL-ATTIYAH 🇶🇦 FROM CLAIMING RECORD-BREAKING 13TH VICTORY IN JORDAN
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DEAD SEA (JORDAN): Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah survived a suspension scare on the first run through the Amar special stage and went on to secure a record-breaking eighth successive and 13th outright victory in the Jordan Rally on Saturday.
Seemingly coasting to victory with a massive lead of over five minutes in their Autotek-run Volkswagen Polo GTI R5, Al-Attiyah and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel were forced to limp through two stages with broken suspension and sufficient repairs were made to enable the duo to reach the finish with an eventual winning margin of 4min 08.2sec on this second round of the 2019 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC).
The result marked Al-Attiyah’s 71st MERC win in the 212-event history of the regional series since its inception in 1984. Baumel has now won 19 MERC rallies.
Al-Attiyah said: “Today was a special day for us. We had a few problems but we managed to fix everything. I am so happy to win and to lead the Middle East Championship after winning in Qatar and now here in Jordan. The suspension issue was a worry. We had three gravel shocks (shock absorbers) and one tarmac one and the balance was completely different. It was not easy to have all the parts because this was a new car.”
Support for the event came from The Boulevard, Mountain Dew, Hala and Bliss FM.
Saturday – as it happened
Only Oman’s Abdulla Al-Ruwahi and Qatar’s Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya failed to return to action under Rally 2 for a further 10 special stages on leg two that included two runs through the Suwayma, Mahes, Rawda, Amar and Nebo specials.
Volkswagen technicians confirmed that it wasn’t a fuel sensor issue that had given Al-Attiyah the late scare on Friday evening. The car was actually running low on fuel after a misjudgement by the team.
Nevertheless, the Qatari began his challenge in Suwayma with a lead of 4min 21.2sec over Al-Kuwari. The latter’s lead over Abu Samra had grown to 58.5 seconds after the Jordanian had been awarded a 10-second time penalty by rally stewards.
Al-Attiyah set the target time of 6min 15.1sec in the opening 11.74km stage and beat Al-Kuwari by 19.2 seconds to extend his lead to 4min 40.4sec. The latter’s consolation was increasing his advantage over third-placed Abu Samra to 1min 15.7sec.
At 19km in length, Mahes was the longest stage of this year’s rally and Al-Attiyah crossed the finish line in 15min 22.1sec. Another quickest time enabled the Qatari to reach the refuelling point with a lead of 5min 30.3sec.
The Autotek team did not have the spare gravel shock absorber for the Volkswagen and Al-Attiyah set out for the final loop of five stages with a nervy lead of 2min 36.2sec. Only eight FIA cars and five national entrants survived to tackle the final loop of five stages.
2019 Jordan Rally – positions after SS21 (unofficial @ 17.25hrs):
1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Volkswagen Pole GTI R5 3hrs 00min 48.5sec
2. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Marshall Clarke (GBR) Škoda Fabia R5 3hrs 04min 56.7sec
3. Marouf Abu Samra (JOR)/Malek Hariri (JOR) Ford Fiesta R5 3hrs 06min 27.6ec
4. Meshari Al-Thefiri (KWT)/Nasser Al-Kuwari (QAT) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 3hrs 20min 08.8sec
5. Henry Kahy (LEB)/Musa Djiyerian (JOR) Škoda Fabia 3hrs 57min 36.7sec
6. Khaled Juma (JOR)/Emad Juma (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 4hrs 24min 34.0sec
7. Shadi Sheban (JOR)/Ameer Nassif (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 4hrs 37min 07.8sec
8. Ahmad Khaled (LEB)/Dany Kairouz (LEB) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII 4hrs 45min 40.8sec
2019 FIA Middle East Rally Championship – standings after round 2 (unofficial):
1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT) 77pts
2. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT) 61pts
3. Meshari Al-Thefiri (KWT) 33pts
4. Marouf Abu Samra (JOR) 25pts
5. Hamed bin Eid Al-Thani (QAT) 24pts
6. Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya (QAT) 19pts
7. Khalid Al-Suwaidi (QAT) 16pts
Ends
Jordan Rally Media Service, Facebook Group: MERC
Facebook Group – Jordan Motorsport (الأردنية لرياضة السيارات)
Twitter: @motorsportjo
6 May 2019