Al Attiyah clinches record-breaking eighth Oman Rally title

SOHAR (OMAN): Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his new Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera cruised to an emphatic 6min 13.6sec victory in the 28th Oman International Rally on Saturday afternoon.

The Qatari secured a record-breaking eighth win in the Sultanate in his Škoda Fabia RS and a staggering 87th career victory in the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) with a seventh different co-driver. He won nine of the 13 special stages, including the Power Stage finale.

Al-Attiyah said: “It has been a very good weekend. I am still tired from Dakar. We enjoyed this a lot, the new location for Oman Rally. New co-driver and we have a new car this year and it has been a good start. We decide to go flat out on the Power Stage and we had a really good time. I am happy.”

His co-driver Candido Carrera said: “The first time here. The stages were very nice and I had a nice feeling. It was the first time with Nasser, so we went going step-by-step with the pace notes and the speed. We think we did a very good job. It is a really good rally. For me, the stages are completely different (to the WRC). The surface is harder and there are no big references between notes. In Acropolis and Sardinia, it is easier to see the road. But I like it a lot.”