Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah: Chances of Middle East Rally Championship Win

Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah

Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera won five of the 13 special stages on the way to a resounding victory in the 46th Qatar International Rally on Saturday.

A second success of the Qatari’s 2025 campaign to win a 20th FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) title also marked his 18th in Qatar from 25 starts and gives him a strong foundation on which to build this year’s title challenge in his Autotek-run Skoda Fabia RS. The win was the 88th in his illustrious MERC career.

In a press conference following the win, A delighted Al Attiyah said: "I am really happy to win this race. It is a home rally, and we did a good job. I am happy with Candido and the team. It is a nice start for 2025. Just 0.8 (seconds) between me and Mads on the Power Stage. It was a good level." His new co-driver Carrera earned his second career MERC rally win in the space of three weeks. The Spaniard said: "The start of the new partnership is very good. I am very happy with two victories with Nasser. It’s very easy to work with him. It’s good for the championship. It’s good for me because it’s a long time since I was reading the pace notes in English. It’s different rallies, very strategic, with the flags and fences. But I am very happy." On his fourth visit to the event, Mads Ostberg finished as runner-up for a third year in succession after failing to finish on his first appearance in 2022. Punctures on Friday put paid to an aggressive challenge by the Norwegian and his Romanian co-driver Sergiu Itu but the crew won eight of the 13 stages, including a clean sweep of six fastest times over the final day to finish 1min 12.8sec behind Al Attiyah.

Ostberg said: "Eight stage wins but that doesn’t count. It takes only one stage to lose the rally. I have learned that on more than one occasion. It’s a shame, but I look at the positives. To be here and to enjoy this rally is really amazing. I take that from here and even just to fight with Nasser on these stages and compare our stage times is really an adventure. I love it. We can see that we have the speed. We just need to nail the strategy. We tried something else this year and it didn’t pay off at all. We need to go home and investigate and try again." Abdulaziz Al Kuwari and Lorcan Moore ceded second to Ostberg on the first stage of the morning but were able to fend off a fierce late challenge from Abdullah Al Rawahi and Ata Al Hmoud to claim the final place on the podium and a vital haul of MERC points in their Citroen C3 by just 3.3 seconds. But the Qatari was handed a five-second penalty on Saturday evening and that dropped him to fourth place.

Al Rawahi was pleasantly surprised to gain third place after the finish. The Omani said: "We pushed like crazy, just three seconds away (before the penalty for Al Kuwari. Unfortunately, we lost some time on one stage, and we had a lot of punctures on the first day, Anyway, I am happy with this performance. The pace is there but I got some penalties, and I was quite unlucky with the punctures." (QNA)

Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera won five of the 13 special stages on the way to a resounding victory in the 46th Qatar International Rally on Saturday.

A second success of the Qatari’s 2025 campaign to win a 20th FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) title also marked his 18th in Qatar from 25 starts and gives him a strong foundation on which to build this year’s title challenge in his Autotek-run Skoda Fabia RS. The win was the 88th in his illustrious MERC career.

In a press conference following the win, A delighted Al Attiyah said: "I am really happy to win this race. It is a home rally, and we did a good job. I am happy with Candido and the team. It is a nice start for 2025. Just 0.8 (seconds) between me and Mads on the Power Stage. It was a good level." His new co-driver Carrera earned his second career MERC rally win in the space of three weeks. The Spaniard said: "The start of the new partnership is very good. I am very happy with two victories with Nasser. It’s very easy to work with him. It’s good for the championship. It’s good for me because it’s a long time since I was reading the pace notes in English. It’s different rallies, very strategic, with the flags and fences. But I am very happy." On his fourth visit to the event, Mads Ostberg finished as runner-up for a third year in succession after failing to finish on his first appearance in 2022. Punctures on Friday put paid to an aggressive challenge by the Norwegian and his Romanian co-driver Sergiu Itu but the crew won eight of the 13 stages, including a clean sweep of six fastest times over the final day to finish 1min 12.8sec behind Al Attiyah.

Ostberg said: "Eight stage wins but that doesn’t count. It takes only one stage to lose the rally. I have learned that on more than one occasion. It’s a shame, but I look at the positives. To be here and to enjoy this rally is really amazing. I take that from here and even just to fight with Nasser on these stages and compare our stage times is really an adventure. I love it. We can see that we have the speed. We just need to nail the strategy. We tried something else this year and it didn’t pay off at all. We need to go home and investigate and try again." Abdulaziz Al Kuwari and Lorcan Moore ceded second to Ostberg on the first stage of the morning but were able to fend off a fierce late challenge from Abdullah Al Rawahi and Ata Al Hmoud to claim the final place on the podium and a vital haul of MERC points in their Citroen C3 by just 3.3 seconds. But the Qatari was handed a five-second penalty on Saturday evening and that dropped him to fourth place.

Al Rawahi was pleasantly surprised to gain third place after the finish. The Omani said: "We pushed like crazy, just three seconds away (before the penalty for Al Kuwari. Unfortunately, we lost some time on one stage, and we had a lot of punctures on the first day, Anyway, I am happy with this performance. The pace is there but I got some penalties, and I was quite unlucky with the punctures."

(QNA)