Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah has shown winning form in the easternMediterraneantoday, taking a 1 minute 30.2 second overnight lead into Day 2 of the 2012 Cyprus Rally.
The final round of the 2012 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) and the penultimate round of this year’s FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), the event has delivered its usual wealth of action and drama as the world’s best drivers battle it out under theCyprussun.
Defending IRC champ Andreas Mikkelsen took the early event lead last night in his Skoda Fabia S2000, winning the thrilling Super Special Stage in downtown Pafos to get the event underway in dramatic style. A confident drive by the Norwegian saw him set a winning time of just 2m 48.6s on the all-tarmac LTV Super Special Stage – 4.4s faster than the Subaru Impreza of 2nd placed Jarkko Nikara ofFinland.
Things changed this morning though, with puncture woes slowing Mikkelsen on the first stage of Day 1 (SS2 – Koilinia – a mostly gravel stage), allowing Qatari ace Al-Attiyah to charge to the head of the field in his Ford Fiesta RRC. The Qatari’s performance was more than enough to see him take the overall event lead, withSaudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi 2nd. The drama continued in SS2 withAustria’s Andreas Aigner – one of the main contenders for the IRC Production Cup – stopping in the stage with brake failure on his Subaru. Speaking earlier today, Aigner said he planned to restart tomorrow morning.
Mikkelsen’s puncture dropped him to 8th overall but the Norwegian fought back hard on SS3 (Salamiou – 57% tarmac), sprinting through the mixed surface stage in 8:38.0, but the stage proved disastrous for 2nd-placed overall Al-Rajhi, who crashed out in his Ford Fiesta S2000. By the end of SS3, Al-Attiyah continued to lead the event overall, with first-time Cyprus entrant Sepp Wiegand of Germany 2nd in his Skoda Fabia S2000.
SS4 (Panayia) – 100% gravel – was the longest of the morning stages and despite reports of ongoing suspension problems, Mikkelsen powered through in an impressive 30:03.1. Al-Attiyah, slowed by driveshaft and alternator issues, lost ground but still made it through the stage a creditable 18.7 seconds behind the Norwegian. Al-Attiyah’s battling drive was enough to see him head into service with an overall lunchtime lead of 1:33.6 over Mikkelsen, who was helped into 2nd place by a costly Wiegand spin on SS4.
After service, drivers headed out once more for a repeat loop of the morning stages, and Mikkelsen continued to set a blistering pace, taking SS5 (Koilinia) 11.5s faster than Al-Attiyah to make it four stage wins out of five. The Qatari’s pace was enough for him to retain his overall lead into SS6 (Salamiou) however, where Mikkelsen once again set the fastest time, 3.6 seconds faster than Al-Attiyah.
In SS7 (Panayia), Al-Attiyah showed all signs of not only being comfortable with the lead he has built over Mikkelsen, but of wanting to extend it even further. The Qatari blasted through the last stage of the day a full 11.5 seconds faster than his Norwegian rival, who suffered further puncture problems. SS7 also proved disastrous for Wiegand, who exited with reported broken steering.
Al-Attiyah’s drive was enough to give a 1m 30.2s overnight lead in the event, with Mikkelsen 2nd and Qatar’s Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari 3rd in his MINI JCW.
Al-Kuwari entered theCyprusevent as MERC leader with 52 points, trailed by Al-Attiyah and Roger Feghali who both have 43 points. Overnight, Al-Kuwari trails Al-Attiyah by 6m 0.7 seconds.
The battle for the IRC 2WD Cup got off to a flying start today, with France’s Robert Consani (Renault Clio R3) and Britain’s Harry Hunt (Citroen DS3) going head to head in a battle for the title. Clutch failure in SS4 brought Consani’s morning to a dismal end, however, leaving the route to the 2WD Cup clear for Hunt… provided he finishes here this weekend.
With Andreas Aigner out on Day 1, Jarkko Nikara continued to show the impressive turn of pace he displayed on last night’s Super Special, but his IRC Production Cup lead was overhauled by Toshi Arai over the course of the day. Overnight, Nikara sits 3rd, behind Arai in 1st and Savvas Savva in 2nd.
Tomorrow will see crews tackle a further six special stages, amounting to 100.32km of competitive action. Day 2 will see drivers cover a total of 350.77km. The first car will exit service at 08:30 and enter Special Stage 8 (Prodromi) – a predominantly gravel stage – at 09:28, and SS9 (Gialia) – 100% gravel – at 10:21. SS10 (Stavros) – a 100% tarmac stage – gets underway at 11:04. Drivers will then return to Pafos for service at 12:34, before heading out again at 13:04 to tackle the repeat loop of stages. The first car will enter SS11 (Prodromi) at 14:02, SS12 (Gialia) at 14:55, and SS13 (Stavros) at 15:38. Crews will return to service at 16:58.
The finish will take place outsidePafosTown Hallat 17:30 on Sunday. Rally fans are encouraged to take note of the change in itinerary announced by the Cyprus Rally organizers this week, which essentially saw the Saturday and Sunday programmes swapped.
The 2012 Cyprus Rally will see crews cover a total of 694.76km, of which 237.14km will be special stages. 30.97% (73.45km) of the stages will be tarmac, and 69.03% (163.69km) gravel.