Nasser Al-Attiyah has captured the Qatar International Rally lead after setting the fastest times on two of Friday morning’s three special stages; the Qatari driver is locked in a battle with fellow countryman Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari who has won the day’s third stage and is just 1.5 seconds behind in second place.
Citroen driver Khalid Al-Qassimi, who won Thursday’s super special stage (SS0), was fourth overall after SS1, but a stoppage for Yazeed Al-Rajhi on SS2 promoted the Emirati driver to P3.
Jordan’s Ala’a Rasheed is fourth overall, more than 5 minutes off the lead, with Masoud Al-Saleh 27 seconds behind in fifth position, closely followed by Abdulla Al-Kuwari.
Saudi Arabia’s Saaed Al-Mouri, who was sixth fastest on the super special stage, retired from the rally just 1.5 kilometers into SS1 with a steering arm failure on his Skoda Fabia.
Overall standings after SS3:
