By Our Correspondent/Dead Sea, Jordan


Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel emerged unscathed from one of the most dramatic mornings in FIA Middle East Rally Championship history to extend their lead in the Jordan Rally to a massive 20min 19.5sec after 11 special stages.
Damage sustained to his Ford Fiesta RRC at the end of Thursday evening’s opening stage meant that Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed al-Rajhi was not able to restart on Friday. But no one envisaged the carnage that would befall al-Attiyah’s other rivals in the punishing heat and dust of a thrilling October day’s rallying at the Dead Sea.
The Qatari duo of Khalid al-Suwaidi and Rashid al-Naimi suffered mechanical issues and Abdulaziz al-Kuwari lost 23 minutes in the fifth timed test when he clouted a small rock and broke a wheel rim. All this left al-Attiyah out on his own as he chases a ninth win in Jordan.
“I am very sad for the retirements for the others, especially for Yazeed (al-Rajhi) and Khalid (al-Suwaidi) and the problems for Abdulaziz (al-Kuwari) today,” said al-Attiyah sportingly. “I hope everyone can continue and finish the rally tomorrow. I try not to lose my concentration now and keep a good rhythm.
“It is very hot. From the data we have 58 (degrees Centigrade) inside the car, but the organisers are doing a fantastic job. We are given cold water at the end of every stage.”
The demise of three of the fancied front-runners left the door open for the Jordanian Group N driver Husam Salem and his co-driver Nancy al-Majali to storm through into second overall in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX.
When Salem was delayed for over three minutes in the eighth stage, Jordanian national rally champion, Khaled Juma, moved up to second and topped Group N in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII, only to fall back to third overall after a time loss on the last stage of the day.
“I had a problem with the alternator after the water splash on the first stage, but we managed to continue,” said Group N leader Salem. “These are very technical stages and there have been a lot of problems for the other drivers. The stages are also slippery, especially in the corners. I have been outside the road several times and reduced my speed on the Turki stage, downhill.”
Meanwhile, al-Kuwari and British co-driver Marshall Clarke recovered from their delays to reach parc ferme in fourth place after passing Ihab al-Shorafa’s Mitsubishi Lancer on the 11th stage This was despite incurring 2min 10sec of additional road penalties for late stage arrivals.
Asem Aref and Moad Arja entered the event in a diminutive Fiat Stilo but retired from sixth on the road section to stage eight.
Several Jordanian teams are running behind the international rally in a separate section of the event. Local female driver Lina Hadadi was the front-runner in this category after losing her place in the main event with FIA homologation issues. Basheer Azar was a close second.