Al-Attiyah not troubled going first in Cyprus

Nasser Al-Attiyah, the winner when Cyprus hosted a round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge for the first time in 2010, will run first on the road on Friday’s opening mixed-surface stage – but insists he isn’t concerned about any time he might lose cleaning loose stones from the gravel sections.

The Cyprus Rally is unique in the IRC in that it features a combination of asphalt and gravel stages. For example, Friday’s first test, the 24.15-kilometre Koilinia run, is 35.5 per cent asphalt and 64.5 per cent gravel.

“For me I don’t care where I start,” said the M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 driver. “There will be a little bit of problem with the cleaning but we know what we can do here.”

However, Al-Attiyah is unlikely to run first on the day’s second and fourth stages, which will be shown live on Eurosport, LTV and RTBF. That’s because event organisers will use the regroup prior to the 18.16-kilometre Salamiou test to reverse the leading positions to further enhance the dramatic worldwide television coverage.

After Thursday night’s LTV Super Special Stage through the streets of Pafos, Al-Attiyah and co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini are eighth overall, 12.1s adrift of leaders Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene in a ŠKODA UK Motorsport Fabia Super 2000.

Top 10 starting positions for day one, section two:

1 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Giovanni Bernacchini (M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000)
2 Jan Kopecký/Pavel Dresler (ŠKODA Fabia S2000)
3 Juho Hänninen/Mikko Markkula (ŠKODA Fabia S2000)
4 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (Peugeot 207 S2000)
5 Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Fløene (ŠKODA Fabia S2000)
6 Freddy Loix/Frédéric Miclotte (ŠKODA Fabia S2000)
7 Karl Kruuda/Martin Järveoja (ŠKODA Fabia S2000)
8 Patrik Sandell/Staffan Parmander (ŠKODA Fabia S2000)
9 Doros Loucaides/Savvas Laos (Peugeot 207 S2000)
10 Toshi Arai/Dale Moscatt (Subaru Impreza R4 STI)