KUWAIT CITY, March 22: With day one over at the Kuwait International Rally2013 there are signs the event could be getting down to a 4-horse race involving two Qataris Nasser Al-Attiyah and Abdulaziz Al Kuwari, Khalid Al Qassimi of the UAE and Yazeed Al Rajhi from Saudi Arabia. There were lots of others however breathing down the necks of the four titans as the time differences in most cases were very close with seconds separating them.
All through the five special stages on day one, Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah had been consistent with his lead but got threatened in stage four as Sheikh Abdullah Al-Qassimi momentarily beat him to second place. Al-Attiyah still clinched the stage four spot on previous stage wins advantage.
Al Attiyah in his Ford Fiesta RRC led by 41.3 seconds from Al Qassmi in the Abu Dhabi Citroën Total World Rally Team DS3 RRC but Sheikh Al-Qassimi looks primed for another great battle with the 10-time winner of the event Saturday to decide the second round of this year’s FIA Middle East Rally Championship round two.

Special stage five of the race, a 20.74 km stretch on the Wafra desert tracks was cancelled due to safety concerns as the track was rendered unsafe after deep gorges emerged following the previous round and camels spotted wandering close by. The other special stages completed twice each on the first leg include Julai’a 12.81 km and Kharin-27.24 km.
Spearheading a four-car Abu Dhabi Racing Challenge, Al Qassimi was trailed by the WRC2 winners from the last two World Rally Championship events this season, Qatar’s Abdulaziz Al Kuwari and Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi, holding third and fourth places in Ford Fiestas.
While Al Attiyah was happy to carry his advantage into the second leg, he could not ignore the threat from Al Qassimi who planned to step up his challenge over the remaining six stages leading to the finish tomorrow afternoon.

Returning to Kuwait for the first time since winning the event three years ago, the UAE driver has been looking for a repeat of the opening day in Qatar where he started the first round of the FIA Middle East series by claiming the overnight lead from Al Attiyah.
While Al Qassimi fought to keep the pressure on Al Attiyah, the three young Emirati drivers also competing for Abu Dhabi Racing in Kuwait each gave a good account of themselves on a day when stage five was cancelled because of camels wandering close to the rally route.

Mohammed Al Mutawaa led team-mate Mohammed Al Sahlawi in the 2WD Class, and both did well to finish the day ahead of a cluster of Group N cars in 15th and 16th positions respectively out of 24 starters.
Lying second in Group N after the opening round of the championship, Bader Al Jabri, accompanied by French co-driver Nicolas Klinger in a Subaru Imprezza, was holding 12th place overall and fourth in the production class before a mechanical problem forced him out on the final stage of the day. He was looking to take advantage of the super rally regulation to re-start the second leg.

Provisional leading positions after Day-One:
1. Nasser Al Attiyah/Giovanni Bernacchini (Qat/Ita) Ford fiesta - 51:51.2
2. Khalid Al Qassimi/Scott Martin (UAE/GBR) Abu Dhabi Citroën DS3 RRC - 52:32.5
3. Abdulaziz Al Kuwari/Killian Duffy (Qat/Irl) Ford Fiesta - 52:49.2
4. Yazeed Al Rajhi/Michael Orr KSA/GBR) Ford Fiesta - 53:33.4
5. Abdullah Al. Qassimi/Steve Lancaster (UAE/GBR) Ford Fiesta - 54:36.2
6. Khalid Al Suwaidi/Nicola Arena (Qat/Ita) Ford Fiesta - 54:50.7
7. Seed al Mouri/Amr Refai (KSA/KSA) Mini Cooper - 56:09.4
8. Msuod Al Saleh/Sulaiman Al Helal (Kwt/Kwt) Ford Fiesta - 57:36.0
9. Mshari Al Thefiri/Mobarak Al Thefiri (Kwt/Kwt) Mitsubishi Evo 9 - 59:25.4
10. Abdulla Al Kuwari/Khalid Al Kendi (Qat/UAE) Mitsubishi Evo 10 - 59:32.1

By Iddris Seidu
Arab Times Staff