This year’s battle for Kuwait International Rally Championship title sees a dramatic rivalry since the results of the SSS held yesterday were announced with a mere 0.8s separating the top three drivers, where Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi and Co-driver Chris Patterson came second on board their Abu Dhabi Citroën DS3 RRC, and Mohamed Al Mutawaa, “Abu Dhabi Racing– Citroën Middle East Trophy” rookie driver was able to best his teammate Saeed Bintouq to score ninth in the overall standings. Today’s matchup witnessed a fierce showdown between Al Qassimi and the Qatari driver Nasser Al Attiyah, with Al Qassimi/Patterson dominating the early special stages of (Mesfir1, Kheiran1, and Kheiran2) to arrive 2nd 12.5s away from the Qatari at the end of the first day of Kuwait International Rally.
Today’s stages were pretty good, with prime results achieved in Mesfir1, Kheiran1, and Kheiran2, and with extreme proximity to the leader’s result (Nasser Al Attiyah), and serves as a call for me to focus more on achieving my objective. Our car is in optimum shape, and I sincerely thank Citroën Racing for sparing no effort to preparing the car to this Rally’s ideal settings; they work as hard as we do to live up for the challenge, in their own unique way. Tomorrow’s stages are relatively shorter, and we must exploit it to our advantage while avoiding any setbacks.” Al Qassimi said.
On another note, “Abu Dhabi Racing-Citroën Middle East Trophy” drivers on board Citroën DS3 R3 Saeed Bintouq/Alan Harryman, Juma Al Falasi/John Higgins, Mansoor Yahya Belhelei/Khalid Al Kendi, Mohammed Al Sahlawi/Craig Parry, and Mohamed Al Mutawaa/Stephen McAuley were consistent in their performance while adapting a no-risk learning curve throughout the rally, despite the relative ease of Kuwait International Rally as compared to that of Qatar which saw their participation at the beginning of the 2WD season on board Citroën DS3 R3. Mohamed Al Mutawaa dominated his teammates in all stages of day one of Kuwait International Rally, and rightfully held the top 10 list by earning ninth position in the overall classification.
Day 2 stages of Kuwait International Rally (Saturday 22 March) are held in: Safir (13.76km), Bneider (17.36km), and Julai’a (12.81km)
2014 Kuwait International Rally – positions after SS7 (@15.30hrs):
1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah/Giovanni Bernacchini – Ford Fiesta RRC 1hr 14min 25.6sec
2. Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi/Chris Patterson – Citroën DS3 RRC 1hr 14min 38.1sec
3. Yazeed Al-Rajhi/Michael Orr – Ford Fiesta RRC 1hr 15min 32.6sec
4. Abdullah Al-Qassimi /Catherine Derousseaux – Ford Fiesta RRC 1hr 17min 14.9sec
5. Salah Bin Eidan/Nasser Al-Kuwari – Ford Fiesta R5 1hr 18min 02.2sec
6. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari/Killian Duffy – Ford Fiesta RRC 1hr 20min 00.6sec
7. Khalifa Al-Attiyah/Adel Hussein – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 22min 05.2sec
8. Abdullah Al-Kuwari/Nicola Arena – Ford Fiesta R5 1hr 22min 56.6sec
9. Mohamed Al-Mutawaa/Stephen McAuley – Citroën DS3 R3 1hr 26min 17.7sec
10. Dawood Al-Gharabally/Abdulla Al-Ghanim – Subaru Impreza 1hr 27min 10.7sec