Qatar's Nasser Al Attiyah Wins Record 14th Title at Jordan Rally

Qatars Nasser bin Saleh Al Attiyah completely dominated the 2021 Jordan Rally to confirm an historic 14th victory on the event by the winning margin of 17min 04.8sec on Saturday.

The Volkswagen Polo GTi driver and his Andorra-based co-driver Matthieu Baumel won each of the 10 special stages in the Dead Sea and Mount Nebo areas to extend their leads in the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC).

Al Attiyah is bidding for a record-breaking 17th regional title this year, as he secured a 78th career MERC event win and Baumel sealed personal win number 27.

Al Attiyah said: "This is a good feeling. A good day. It was a nice rally for us. A win again, 14 times in Jordan, and we have a good lead in the Middle East Championship. The next step will be Lebanon Rally and we try to defend our title."

Kuwaits Meshari Al Thefiri began the day with a 40.8-second cushion at the head of the MERC2 category and the second-placed Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X driver confirmed another showroom class success after nearest rival Alex Feghali opted to drive cautiously over the final day to conserve a first ever podium place on an MERC rally.

Shadi Sheban missed out on a second Jordan National Rally victory to a resurgent Khaled Juma, but had the consolation of finishing a career-best fourth in the FIA event and being the first Jordanian home. He also takes an early lead in the National Championship following a win and a second place over the two days.

A flat tyre and front differential issues cost Lebanons Shadi El-Fakih a lot of time on the opening two stages of the final day and he slipped into the clutches of Qatars Nasser bin Khalifa Al Attiyah after incurring time penalties for leaving service late and then going OTL in stage nine. Al Attiyah duly claimed fifth overall with Italian navigator Giovanni Bernacchini.

Saudi Arabias Saleh Al Saif restarted under Rally2 after his accident and drive shaft woes on Friday and the Can-Am Maverick X3 driver climbed back to sixth place. That pushed local driver Ihab Al Shorafa down to seventh and MERC3 category winner Asem Aref into eighth.

Defending two-wheel drive champion Henry Kahy also restarted under Rally2 and rounded off the finishers in ninth overall. (QNA)

Source: QNA

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