Al-Attiyah hits back in Cyprus
Fastest on SS4
The Intercontinental Rally Challenge-counting FxPro Cyprus Rally continues to thrill after Nasser Al-Attiyah hit back in his efforts to win the mixed-surface event.
Al-Attiyah, at the wheel of an M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000, was fastest through the fourth Agioi Vavatsinias stage, which was shown live on Eurosport and Cypriot channel LumiereTV.
His stage best means he now leads Czech Martin Prokop, in another Fiesta, by 19.2s.
Lebanon’s Roger Feghali remains in third overall in his Škoda Fabia with Jaromir Tarabus fourth and Roman Kresta up to fifth in his Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX.
Franz Wittmann is sixth despite the imposition of 1m50s of time penalties for leaving first service late while his mechanics worked to repair a broken heat transfer unit.
Cypriot hero Nicos Thomas has slipped out of the top five after his Peugeot was slowed by brake problems and a faulty gearchange mechanism.
Crews are now heading back to Limassol for a regroup before entering second service. Four more stages remain before the completion of day one later tonight.
After SS4: