Al-Attiyah wins 51st Cyprus Rally; al-Kuwari becomes Middle East Rally Champions

Nasser al-Attiyah on Sunday claimed his ninth career victory at the Cyprus Rally organised by the Cyprus Automobile Association, with Italian co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini and driving a Skoda Fabia R5.The driver from Qatar took the lead one special stage before the finish due to the retirement of Simos Galatariotis-Antonis Ioannou, who had been leading the race since the second special stage.Ultimately, their aging Volkswagen Polo GTi gave out with a steering system issue (link arm broken) one stage before the end, in a repeat of last year's scenario where the crew had been leading but retired, clearing the way for al-Attiyah to win.The top Cypriot crew, Panagiotis Yiangou-Aristos Nicolaou, finished in second place with a Hyundai i20 R5, ahead of the brothers Abdulaziz and Nasser al-Kuwari from Qatar, who finished third with a Skoda Fabia R5 and were crowned FIA Middle East Rally Champions for the first time. The Ceremonial Finish and awards ceremony took place at Makariou Avenue, in the heart of Nicosia.Al-Attiyah and Galatariotis had a fierce battle, with the Cypriot leading by 49.9 seconds after the first loop on Saturday. The gap was reduced to 38 seconds in the afternoon, to 6.9 seconds by Sunday midday, and finally to 1.5 seconds two special stages before the finish, as Nasser was going flat out — winning all of Sunday's stages and half of Saturday's (three).Al-Attiyah won the Cyprus Rally for the first time with a Skoda Fabia — it was only his second rally with his new car — having previously secured three wins with a Volkswagen Polo and five with a Ford Fiesta. For Bernacchini, this marks his fourth victory and his first since 2014, as al-Attiyah had won the Cyprus Rally five times in the interim with Mathieu Baumel as his co-driver.Panagiotis Yiangou-Aristos Nicolaou had a great battle with Petros Panteli-Pampos Laos (Renault Clio), who were forced to change a tyre in the second stage Sunday, losing three minutes and their spot on the podium. They ultimately finished fourth, one position higher than last year, having delivered a strong performance with six Top 3 finishes in the special stages. Yiangou-Nicolaou moved into the lead of the Cyprus National Championship with two races remaining, as each day of the Cyprus Rally counted as a separate championship event with a coefficient of "1.5." Yiangou also finished second in 2020.45-year-old Abdulaziz al-Kuwari from Qatar ended Nasser al-Attiyah's streak of 13 consecutive championships, with al-Attiyah having a total of 19 titles. The al-Kuwari brothers settled for third place, which secured them the necessary points for the championship title. This was Abdulaziz's seventh participation in the Cyprus Rally, and it is certainly one he will never forget.Al-Muhannadi-al-Hmoud finished fifth with another Skoda Fabia R5 in the colors of Qatar, also prepared by the Latvian SRT team.In the MERC 2 category, Nestoros-Kallis took first place with a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, finishing sixth overall, followed by Christodoulou/Andreou with a Subaru Impreza.Shaker Jweihan from Jordan and Carlos Hanna from Lebanon were crowned Middle East champions in the MERC 2 category without competing in Cyprus Rally. They were started on Friday but the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX they rented—since their own Evo X remained in Lebanon—faced issues before the first special stage, forcing them to retire. The crew had hopes of even winning the championship, as they were ahead of al-Attiyah and behind al-Kuwari.Middle East MERC 4 champions were crowned as El-Fakih-Fier from Lebanon, who finished 10th driving a Peugeot 208. The 2WD category in the Cyprus Rally was won by Manoli-Evripidou, who finished 8th overall, leaving the Lebanese crew in second place. Akis Ellinas-George Pougioukkas finished in 9th place with Ford Fi.A total of 20 crews started the race on Friday (18/10). On Saturday (19/10), five crews retired, only two of which re-started on Sunday under SupeRally rules and 14 came back to Nicosia on Sunday afternoon.