Al-Attiyah hits trouble

Nasser Al-Attiyah’s bid to win the Cyprus Rally, the deciding round of the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge, for a second year in a row could be over after his M-Sport Ford Fiesta was struck down by an engine problem.

Al-Attiyah had posted the fastest time on stage eight, but returned to the regroup in Pafos with his car’s engine misfiring.

“On the road section here we have a small noise from the engine, like on three cylinders. Something is wrong with the engine and maybe we cannot continue," said the Qatari ace. "We have time still to work on the car but the third piston has something wrong. If we cannot fix it we must stop because we don’t want to do big damage to the engine. That would be very disappointing.”