Prokop: Beating Nasser will be a tall order

Martin Prokop, currently second overall on the Intercontinental Rally Challenge qualifier, says it will be a tall order to beat Nasser Al-Attiyah to victory on the FxPro Cyprus Rally.

Prokop trails the Middle East champion by 19.2 seconds after four special stages in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 having been saddled with a 20-second time penalty for leaving Friday morning service late.

“I know Nasser very well and I know he’s a very quick driver, especially on destroyed roads like we have here,” said Prokop. “Our car is okay now but we have a problem with the tyres. We thought the temperatures would be colder so we only have soft-compound tyres and not the hard tyres that we need. It’s made the Tarmac sections very slippery and meant we’ve not had good traction on the gravel.”