Nasser Al-Attiyah is in a strong position to secure his tenth victory in the Cyprus Rally and the 21st Middle East Rally Championship title of his career following the first day of the Cyprus Rally which is organised by the Cyprus Automobile Association since 1970.
He won four of the six special stages and leads Simos Galatariotis by 53 seconds. Galatariotis won one special stage. Both drivers lost almost two minutes on the final stage of the day due to punctures.
This gave Oman’s Al-Rawahi the opportunity to close the gap to Galatariotis to just 1 minute and 12 seconds. Al-Rawahi is also hoping to claim the championship title.
Last year’s local champions, Yiangou / Nicolaou, are in fourth place in their Hyundai i20. During the afternoon stages, they overtook Poseidias / Pambos Laos (Renault Clio), who dropped to fifth place but remain the leaders in the Rally3 category.
The Turkish Cypriot crew of Sukuroglu / Topcuoslu are sixth in their Volkswagen Polo. Zenonos / Christofi (Ford Fiesta) are seventh, while Manoli / Petros Laos (Peugeot 208) are eighth and lead the two-wheel-drive (2WD) category.
Ten of the 16 crews that started in the morning completed the first leg of the international Cyprus Rally. Meanwhile, Jordanian crew Jweihan / Juna, competing in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, who took the start on Friday, October 23, announced that they would compete only on the second day.
Among the most notable retirements were Al-Atya / Chehab, who went off the road in their Fiesta on the first stage. Bakhashab / Matar retired in their Fabia on the final stage, as did K. Laos / Stylianou and Prodromou / Episkopou, both driving Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X cars. Parellis / Papandreou (Opel Corsa) also retired on the first stage.
In the local rally for older-generation competition cars (S Class), 11 cars started, but just four completed the day’s stages. Kokias / Constantinou (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) lead the standings, followed by Chapelis /
Chrysanthou (Subaru Impreza) and Christodoulou / Nestoras (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII). Trikkomitis / Nicolaou (Suzuki Vitara) are fourth.
On Sunday, October 25, the special stages of Doratikos, Vavatsinia and Stavrovouni, near Pyrga, will take place. The second run through Stavrovouni, scheduled for 3.13pm, will serve as the rally’s Power Stage.
The rally covers a total distance of 657.74 km, including 183.92 km across 12 gravel special stages.
The Ceremonial Finish and the crowning ceremony for the new Middle East Rally Champion will take place at 5pm on Sunday at Europe Square in Larnaca.
