Al Attiyah Cruises into Kuwait Rally Lead after Opening Stage Win at Kuwait Motor Town

Kuwait, November 01 (QNA) - Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah cruised into a comfortable lead through the opening 2.3km super special stage of the Kuwait International Rally at Kuwait Motor Town on Thursday afternoon. The Ford Fiesta R5 driver carded a time of exactly two minutes with the backdrop of a setting sun to move into a 4.1 second lead over Czech driver Vojtech Stajf at the start of the fourth round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC). Ten drivers were permitted to start the FIA event and another three Kuwaiti crews took part in a National Rally over the same route. Local driver Meshari Al-Thefiri headed the MERC 2 contingent with the third quickest time of 2min 08.4sec to take a category lead of four-tenths of a second over Jordanian driver Khaled Juma into the night halt. Al Attiyah made an impressive return to the series after a 20-year absence to post the fifth-quickest time of 2min 13.2sec. Jordanian driver Shadi Shaban was the first to tackle the super special stage and posted the target time of 2min 19.3sec - his run also marked the first FIA competitive action to be staged at Kuwait Motor Town race circuit since its inauguration in March. Lebanon's Henry Kahy and Jordanian navigator Musa Djiyerian remain on course for the MERC 3 title after completing the stage in ninth place in a time of 2min 20sec. Oman's Abdulah Al-Ruwahi slipped to 10th place with a misfiring Subaru Impreza. Al Attiyah Cruises into Kuwait Rally Lead after Opening Stage Win at Kuwait Motor Town - 1 President of Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation Abdurahman Abdul Latif Al Mannai, congratulated Basel Salem Al Sabah on the wonderful organization of the Kuwait International Rally and the selection of this new site for the new circuit that reflects Kuwait's vision and interest in the sport. Al Mannai added that we all know how important Kuwait Rally is, it is one of the most important tournaments in the region, in light of the great history that Kuwait has in this sport, he said. The President of Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation expressed his great pleasure that champion Nasser Al Attiyah is leading the competitions of the rally so far, adding that the winning of Nasser Al Attiyah is not a surprise and we wish him success in the rest of the race which is very important, especially that winning this rally will help him to break a new record for legendary Qatar, Arab and international rally. Of course we wish success to all participants in this rally, he added. Al Mannai added that we are ready for Qatar Rally, the last round of the tournament, we have good arrangements different from previous years, and there are competitors from the Gulf countries and we expect a strong competition in this rally to conclude the tournament. For his part, the world champion Nasser bin Saleh al Attiyah at the press conference before the launch of the rally, said that Kuwait Rally is one of the most beautiful rallies. Al Attiyah added that it was important for us to be in this rally and to support motor sport in Kuwait, which we consider to be the first to start motor sport in the region and have a great history in this field. On his approach to breaking the record to win the Middle East championship, Nasser Al Attiyah said that at first his ambition was to win the Middle East championship, and he started to participate in 2003 under the supervision of Nasser bin Khalifa Al Attiyah as the head of the Qatari federation, who set up a plan to have a new number in the motorsport in the region, and we tried to win this tournament. He added we have succeeded in equating the current record with winning the championship 13 times, and this year we need to win to achieve a new record. If we achieve this, we will continue to participate and we will not stop, and at the same time we wish to have drivers other than Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and support them to rise to world platforms, especially as our region has facilities such as Kuwait city circuit. Al Attiyah commented on the pressure for breaking the record, by saying that there will be certainly pressure, but at the same time we have good experience in this rally, as we won the title 6 times before and we hope that this time we will win the title for the seventh time. (QNA)