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Nasser leads in the dark at Jordan

DEAD SEA: Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and French navigator Matthieu Baumel cruised into a lead of 11.3 seconds at the FIA Jordan Rally after the opening two-kilometre Samarah super special stage on the shores of the Dead Sea on Thursday evening.

The late arrival of his support truck meant that the 10-time winner of the Hashemite Kingdom’s premier motor sporting event had been unable to test his new Ford Fiesta R5 Evo 2 until after scrutineering on Thursday morning. It was, therefore, a cautious Qatari who carded the fastest time of 1min 51.5sec over a stage that was held in near darkness adjacent to the ceremonial start.

“We made a little test today, maybe 35km, with the car on a section of gravel track that was used in the WRC from the old Turki stage and the car felt great,” said Nasser. “I need to finish this rally. The championship is short and the problems in Qatar mean that maximum points are important here. I have been driving Fords for many years, so I know the cars well. This car has a little more power.”

The best of the rest and the leader in MERC 2 was Jordanian driver Marouf Abu Samra at the wheel of his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. Khaled Juma finished third, 3.1 seconds behind, and Kuwait’s Meshari Al Thefiri and Saudi Arabia’s Rakan Al-Rashed rounded off the top five.

On Friday, teams will tackle two loops of five stages in the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley areas. Press Release

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