FINTAS Kuwait: A record sixth victory in the Kuwait International Rally was never really in doubt for Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah. The 11-time FIA Middle East rally champion won all the 13 timed special stages at the second round of the regional series and reached the finish in Fintas last afternoon with a winning margin of 11min 24.9sec.

He and French navigator Matthieu Baumel controlled their pace at the three-day rally from start-to-finish to deliver yet another faultless team performance a record 62nd MERC rally win for the driver and an 11th for his navigator.

“It was important that I won here and collected the maximum points but I wasn’t really pushed on this rally” said Al Attiyah. “I would like to see my rivals come back on the next rallies. The car was fantastic and we managed to win every stage on an event that I enjoy very much.”

Newly-crowned Kuwaiti national champion Meshari Al Thefiri capped a memorable weekend with second overall and outright victory in the hard-fought MERC 2 category in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. His winning margin was 1min 28.2sec.

Partnered by Qatar’s Nasser Al Kuwari on this occasion he became only the second Kuwaiti in MERC history to reach the podium and the first to record a second-placed finish – the Kuwaiti duo of Mufeed Mubarak and Saad Al Melaifi finished third in the MERC category at the Jordan WRC Rally in 2011.

Qatar’s Rashed Al Nuami and Italian navigator Nicola Arena struggled with the loss of third gear on their Subaru Impreza for two stages and retired from third position with ongoing gearbox issues with one stage to go although they maintained the unofficial MERC 2 championship advantage after two rounds.

Yigit Timur lost his way in one stage for a time in a Tok Sport Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X but he and co-driver Ufuk Ulocak benefited from Al Nuami’s misfortune to confirm third place and the runner-up spot in MERC 2.

The winner’s brother Khalifa Al Attiyah and Cypriot navigator Savvas Laos finished the event in fourth while the Lebanese duo of Rodolphe Asmar and experienced co-driver Joseph Matar dropped from fifth to seventh when they incurred a two-minute penalty after the finish.

Qatar’s Khaled Al Suwaidi and Italian co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini benefited from the Rally 2 ruling to start the second day in eighth overall in their Ford Fiesta R5. But the Qatari was too far behind to make a real impression and despite a string of second fastest times he could only finish sixth and then climbed to fifth after Asmar’s penalty.

Saudi rookie Rakan Al Rashed and Finnish navigator Jarkko Kalliolepo held seventh overall before being overhauled by Al Suwaidi. Al Rashed finished his second ever rally in sixth place however after Al Nuami retired.

The Qatari pairing of Abdullah Al Kuwari and Adel Hussein returned to action under Rally two and completed the event in eighth. Turkey’s Vidat Diker and the Kuwaiti duo of Saleh Ali and Elie Chachati rounded off the international finishers in ninth 10th and 11th overall.

The event was organised by the Basil Salem Al Sabah Motor Racing Club (BMRC) under the chairmanship of Sheikh Athbi Nayef Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah and in conjunction with the General Authority for Sport.

Al Attiyah began the final day with a comfortable lead of 6min 27.3sec over Thefiri.

The first of two runs through the 16.61km of the Bnaider stage south of Kuwait City was first on the agenda and Al Attiyah set the benchmark with a time of 10min 45.3sec.

The ninth special near the military base at Arifjan ran for 15.37km. Al Attiyah was coasting and arrived at the stage start with an outright lead of 7min 28.3sec. His only R5 rival Al Suwaidi was beginning to make a move back up the leader board from eighth position but held little chance of reaching the podium.

Al Attiyah reached the regroup and service break with an overall lead of 8min 47sec. Al Thefiri laid down the MERC 2 gauntlet with a time of 7min 57.5sec and he pulled a further 20.6 seconds away from Al Nuami who had lost third gear and was clearly struggling. It was also sufficient for the Kuwaiti to extend his MERC 2 lead over Timur to 32.4 seconds at the halfway point after the Turk was reported to have lost his way in the special stage.

“There is no competition unfortunately in my category here” said leader Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah. “With the new points system it was important that we finished both days but I am taking it easy now. This is one of my favourite rallies.”

A repeat run through the three stages was on the agenda for the afternoon and Al Thefiri closed in on history with a time of 11min 47.4sec and gained another 12.4 seconds on Al Nuami. The Qatari reached the start of the final stage safe in the knowledge that his lead was 10min 37.1sec and rounded off a clinical weekend’s work with the 13th consecutive fastest time to seal the win by a massive 11min 24.9sec. There was joy as well for Al Thefiri and a first ever second-placed finish for a Kuwaiti on a round of the MERC. But gearbox problems thwarted Al Nuami within sight of the finish and gifted the final podium place to Timur.

The regional series now moves on to demanding special stages near the Dead Sea in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan at the start of May.The Peninsula