Al-Attiyah leads Cyprus Rally

Nasser Al-Attiyah will take a lead of 0.6s into section two of the opening day of the FxPro Cyprus Rally following his victory on the Lemesos Super Special Stage tonight (Thursday).

Driving an M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000, the Qatari set a time of 2m21.7s over the 2.45-kilometre all-asphalt course in Limassol’s port area.

In front of a large and enthusiastic crowd, Al-Attiyah was 0.6s faster than fellow Fiesta driver Andreas Mikkelsen. Jaromir Tarabus was third fastest in another Fiesta. Bryan Bouffier was the quickest Peugeot runner in fourth overall. Bouffier’s team-mate Franz Wittmann completed the top five.

IRC 2WD Cup title contender Harry Hunt suffered a minor scare when he landed heavily after the jump. Daniel Oliveira also landed heavily in his Peugeot 207, while Roger Feghali swiped his Škoda Fabia on a concrete wall and inflicted some bodywork damage. Martin Prokop suffered a differential failure and struggled through the stage in 10th overall.

Middle East champion Al-Attiyah starts first on the road on Friday by virtue of being the number one seed.

Standings after SS1: