IRC news before Rally Cyprus, part 2

Al-Attiyah can’t wait for Cyprus Rally to start

Nasser Al-Attiyah will be relishing the start of the Cyprus Rally tomorrow because he can’t wait to tackle the mixed-surface stages. The Qatari ace, who won the bronze medal in the skeet shooting section of the London 2012 Olympics and triumphed on the first Cyprus Rally to count towards the Intercontinental Rally Challenge in 2010, will be one of the favourites for victory in his Autotek Motorsport M-Sport Ford Fiesta RRC.

“This is a really nice rally but it’s a very hard rally, especially the 30-kilometre [Panayia] stage,” said Al-Attiyah. “When you have gravel and asphalt stages it’s more challenging for the driver because you are having to think more about the cars and the tyres.”

Al-Attiyah completed a pre-event test in Cyprus on Monday, when he covered 100 kilometres near Anadiou. “The test was good but for this rally I am expecting a tough fight with Andreas Mikkelsen,” said Al-Attiyah. “I also need to think about the Middle East championship. I need to get 25 points from this event so I can go to the final round in a good way.”

Meanwhile, the Cyprus Rally organisers have confirmed that Al-Attiyah has set aside some of his own sponsorship to partly fund this week’s event. “The Cyprus Automobile Association, the organiser of the Cyprus Rally, extends its thanks to Nasser Al-Attiyah for his generous support and for helping ensure that this weekend’s event enjoys the best possible coverage,” read a statement.

Tempestini : we won’t give up the fight

Despite failing to score on his last two appearances in the IRC Production Cup, Marco Tempestini isn’t giving up on clinching the showroom title when the series reaches its climax on the Cyprus Rally this week.

Bad luck meant the Italian-born Romanian didn’t finish in Sanremo and Sliven. However, he can still claim the title spoils in his Subaru Impreza R4 STI.

“After two rallies without points we are very determined to fight for a good result in Cyprus,” said Tempestini. “We still have a chance to win the title but it depends also what happens on the stages. It was a year with good and bad things but we will fight till the end. We came into the IRC Production Cup to fight for a podium place and now we still have chances to win the title. It will be a difficult rally but for sure a beautiful one. I won’t calculate anything during the rally. I just hope that everything goes well and we can finish.”