Nasser Al-Attiyah secured his ninth Middle East Rally Championship title this afternoon at the 2013 Cyprus Rally – the fifth and penultimate round of the championship – after taking a flawless victory. The Qatari’s dominance kicked off on Friday night with a Super Special Stage win, he then extended his lead to a massive 2 min 51 seconds following victories in all of the rally’s stages bar SS5.
Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, who was running second overall ahead of Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi (Citroen DS3 RRC), lost the position to his rival following a slow time on Sunday’s opening stage. Al-Qassimi successfully managed to fend off the Fiesta RRC driver and finished runner-up to Al-Attiyah, with Al-Kuwari settling for third.
Cypriot Costas “CHIPS” Georgiou, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, ended his home rally in fifth place overall and first among local drivers with a 3-minute deficit to fourth-placed Misfer Al-Marri.
Al-Attiyah’s triumph is his fourth this season following three others in Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan; it is also his 49th Middle East Rally victory, putting him 11 wins short of Mohammad Bin Sulayem’s record of 60.
Overall classification after SS17:
