2023 Oman International Rally
2023 FIA Middle East Rally Championship, round 1
January 26th-28th, 2023
For immediate release
Friday, January 27th, 2023
LOCAL STAR ABDULLAH AL-RAWAHI IN COMMAND AFTER SEVEN STAGES OF OMAN INTERNATIONAL RALLY
• Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah’s fightback thwarted by a five-minute penalty
• Czech Petr Kačirek and MERC2 leader Meshari Al-Thefiri in second and third
MUSCAT (OMAN): The Oman Rally Team’s Abdullah Al-Rawahi and Jordanian co-driver Ata Al-Hmoud held a comfortable lead of 5min 23.2sec after a further six gravel stages of the Oman International Rally on Friday.
The 2021 event winner was second quickest on each of the fast and flowing gravel speed tests in his Škoda Fabia Evo, despite a flat tyre on the opener, and heads into the final day well placed to win his second ever round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship.
“I am very happy with how the day went,” said Al-Rawahi. “We knew that Nasser would need to push very hard from the start and it was just a case of focusing on our job in hand and keeping our concentration. The rear puncture was not the best of starts but we recovered well and now the outcome is in our hands on the final day.”
After crashing on Thursday’s super special, Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his Andorra-based co-driver Mathieu Baumel began a daunting fightback through the field from 13th overall.
They won each of the day’s stages but progress was severely hampered when the event Stewards imposed a second penalty of five minutes and a suspended fine on the Volkswagen Golf crew for a seat belt violation that had occurred on the super special stage. The Qatari reached the night halt in seventh overall and trails the leader by 11min 27.4sec.
The Czech crew of Petr Kačirek and Petra Řiháková held second in their Duck Racing Škoda Fabia. The overnight leading Kuwaiti Meshari Al-Thefiri and his Qatari co-driver Nasser Al-Kuwari were a mere 16.6 seconds behind in third place and 13.5 seconds clear of their closest MERC2 rivals, the fourth-placed Omani crew of Abdullah Al-Zubair and Taha Soomar.
The Jordanian duo of Shaker Jweihan and female co-driver Nancy Al-Majali rounded off the top five after ongoing technical issues pushed Qatar’s Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya and Italian team-mate Giovanni Bernacchini down to eighth over the afternoon’s loop of stages.
Jordan’s Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez has a slender hold on sixth place with Al-Attiyah closing in from seventh, while Kuwait’s Yousef Al-Dhefiri and Jordanian Ihab Al-Shorafa round off the top 10.
Issa Abu Jamous had dropped down to the national category after falling foul of a fire extinguisher regulation at pre-event scrutineering. But the Jordanian was making the most of his trip to the Sultanate of Oman nonetheless and he and co-driver Yazan Juma led the Oman National Rally by 6min 01.7sec after seven stages.
Faisal and Yaqdhan Al-Rashdi held second overall in a Subaru Impreza STi and Ghaith Al-Qasmi and Ahmed Salim rounded off the podium places in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII.
Overnight leader Saif Al-Harthy retired from second place after the third stage and he was joined by Musab Soomar, Salim Al-Toqi and Haitham Al-Zadjali on the list of non-finishers soon afterwards.
Friday – as it happened
Al-Attiyah was faced with one of his greatest challenges if he was to snatch an eighth win in Oman. He trailed the leader by 10 minutes heading to the first stage of Friday’s morning loop – the 21.98km of Al-Khoud. The Qatari didn’t disappoint and he beat Al-Rawahi by 63 seconds to claim the stage win and also regained 1min 56.7sec from former leader Al-Thefiri.
Al-Rawahi had suffered a rear right puncture but duly moved into the lead on a stage where Lebanon’s Ahmad Khaled dropped over 10 minutes with his own on-stage tyre problems.
Al-Rawahi responded in Jafnein (19.54km) and Al-Attiyah was only able to claw back 4.4 seconds. He gained another five on the final stage of the loop at Saal and returned to the midday service at the Oman Automobile Association (OAA) trailing the leading Omani by 8min 42.9sec, although he had climbed above Ihad Al-Shorafa into 11th overall.
Al-Atya, Al-Thefiri, Kačirek and Al-Zubair rounded off the top five. Zakariya Al-Aamri retired his Subaru with technical issues.
Al-Attiyah was 15.2 seconds faster on his second run through Al-Khoud and managed to slice another 1min 27.9sec off the leader’s advantage. He was now 7min 15sec in arrears. Al-Atya lost a couple of minutes and slipped back to fourth behind Al-Rawahi, Al-Thefiri and Kačirek.
Al-Attiyah climbed to seventh, although the Stewards had imposed an additional five-minute penalty on the Qatari for a first stage seatbelt violation and he slipped back to ninth place.
Nasser clawed another 22.9 seconds back in SS6 and headed to the last stage of the day trailing Al-Rawahi by 11min 52.1sec. Kačirek, Al-Thefiri, Al-Zubair and Jweihan closed out the top five after Al-Atya slipped back with ongoing technical problems.
Another fastest time in SS7 saw Al-Attiyah return to the night halt in seventh overall, albeit 11min 27.4sec behind Al-Rawahi.
Saturday
Competitive action concludes with two further loops of three gravel special stages. After the opening Mulaynah (15.86km) test at 09.18hrs, the morning’s action continues with the 19.65km of the Misfah special from 09.51hrs and the first run through Murayrat (21.97km) from 10.29hrs.
A return to the OAA for a regroup and service will be followed by repeat runs through the three gravel speed tests from 13.22hrs, 13.55hrs and 14.33hrs, respectively. The podium finish will take place at the Muscat Drift Arena later in the afternoon.
2023 Oman International Rally – positions after SS7 (unofficial):
1. Abdullah Al-Rawahi (OMN)/Ata Al-Hmoud (JOR) Škoda Fabia Evo 1hr 18min 08.9sec
2. Petr Kačirek (CZE)/Petra Řiháková (CZE) Škoda Fabia 1hr 23min 32.0sec
3. Meshari Al-Thefiri (KWT)/Nasser Al-Kuwari (QAT) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 23min 48.6sec
4. Abdullah Al-Zubair (OMN)/Taha Soomar (OMN) Subaru Impreza STi 1hr 24min 02.1sec
5. Shaker Jweihan (JOR)/Nancy Al-Majali (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 27min 28.7sec
6. Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez (JOR)/Emad Juma (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 28min 56.9sec
7. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Mathieu Baumel (AND) Volkswagen Polo GTI 1hr 29min 36.2sec
8. Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya (QAT)/Giovanni Bernacchini (ITA) Ford Fiesta R5 1hr 29min 40.3sec
9. Yousef Al-Dhefiri (KWT)/Carlos Hanna (LEB) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 29min 59.4sec
10. Ihab Al-Shorafa (JOR)/Yousef Juma (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 1hr 36min 46.4sec
2023 Oman National Rally – positions after SS7 (unofficial):
1. Issa Abu Jamous (JOR)/Yazan Juma (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 1hr 30min 23.6sec
2. Faisal Al-Rashdi (OMN)/Yaqdhan Al-Rashdi (OMN) Subaru Impreza Sti 1hr 36min 25.3sec
3. Ghaith Al-Qasmi (OMN)/Ahmed Salim OMN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII 1hr 37min 26.8sec
4. Mutasim Al-Balushi (OMN)/Nofel Al-Balushi (OMN) Yamaha YXZ 1000 R 1hr 40min 02.5sec
5. Abdullah Al-Touqi (OMN)/Ilka Minor (AUT) Toyota Yaris 1hr 40min 46.0sec
6. Mohammed Al-Mazroui (OMN)/Sana Al-Shukaili (OMN) Yamaha YXZ 1000 R 1hr 56min 25.7sec
Ends
For further media information: 2023 Oman International Rally, Media Manager and PR Officer, Shahad Al-Taee, Email: shahad@omanauto.org and Neil Perkins, International Media Officer, E-mail: ndppublicity@gmail.com. Facebook group: MERC
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