Dead Sea (Jordan): The Jordan International Rally competitions have started 2021By participating in the first day [Friday] of the rally, which included six stages, which started from the shores of the Dead Sea, in which the Qatari driver Nasser bin Saleh Al-Attiyah managed to lead the rally with a comfortable margin, 8:32.1Minutes away from its closest competitors, bearing in mind that the rally witnessed a very hot weather that affected a number of participants.
Nasser bin Saleh Al-Attiyah did not confront his French navigator Mathieu Baumel in a Volkswagen “Polo GTI-R” 5 “No problems all day, and we were able to build and manage a comfortable difference during the first three special stages that took place within the Dead Sea and Mount Nebo regions.
Al-Attiyah said: “It was a good morning, we tried to push in the first two stages, the other drivers had some problems, punctures, but it is not an easy rally even for experienced drivers. We know these good tracks, we have a good lead in the general classification and now we are trying to manage the difference.”
He added: “The last part of the day was good, it was not easy and there were a lot of big rocks in the second stage, but we managed to finish it without problems, and now we have to get the car to the finish line.”
Kuwaiti driver Mishari Al-Dhafiri was the closest competitor to the Qatari during the day, and the Mitsubishi driver finished the “Lancer Evolution” 10 Today he is in second place, and first in the second category in the championship with a difference 40.8seconds from its closest competitor.
The young Lebanese driver Alex Feghali, the son of Roger, the champion of the Rally of Lebanon 14Once, he finished the day in third place in the general classification and third in the second category of the championship, knowing that he fought a strong competition with the Omani driver Abdullah Al-Rawahi before the latter was forced to withdraw due to the overheating of the engine of his Ford Fiesta R 5 With the end of the morning stages, Feghali becomes Al Dhafiri’s closest competitor in the second category of the championship dedicated to commercial production cars (the “An” group).
Alex Feghali said: “The last part of the day was much better for us, our win 15thAgain against Meshari Al Dhafiri, we had some problems with the differential, but we will push tomorrow and try to finish the rally in second place.”
While Al Rawahi talked about what happened to him, he said: “We had a puncture in one of the rear tires in the first stage, and then another puncture in the second, longer stage of the day, it was a very difficult rally, I think the rubber rips from the tire caused a hole in the coolant radiator tubes “That resulted in a water leak, so the engine overheated. We knew that after the third stage when the car stopped, we were able to go back to the pits but the engine pressure went down and we couldn’t continue.”
Jordanian driver Shadi Shaaban finished the day in fourth place, winning the first round of the Jordan National Rally Championship, noting that the second round of the local championship will be held tomorrow, Saturday, parallel to the last day of the international rally.
Lebanese driver Chadi Fakih finished the day fifth overall in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. 9 While Qatari driver Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Attiyah was able to recover from two major punctures in the tires and a case of heat exhaustion (dehydration) during the day, and delivered his Ford Fiesta-R 5 For the sixth place in the provisional overall standings for the day.
Lebanese driver Henry Kai faced an engine problem in his Skoda Fabia that prompted him to announce his withdrawal after the first special stage, knowing that he is competing in the third category of the two-wheel drive championship, which opened the way for his Jordanian competitor, Assem Arif, to advance to the top of this category today It ranks eighth overall and first in its category.
“The last half of the day was really tough, we faced a lot of rocks as we had to drive very slowly, and we were two minutes slower compared to the first half of the morning,” Asim Aref said after the day.
The Saudi driver, Saleh Al-Saif, started the day cautiously with his new navigator and rookie, his compatriot Faisal Al-Suwayeh, and was able to advance to fifth place in the Can-Am Maverick X. 3 Class “T” 4 Before announcing his withdrawal in the fifth special stage “Lenticular.” 2 The car fell into a ditch next to the track, resulting in a break in the transmission axle, and the Lebanese driver Ahmed Khaled withdrew in the same stage due to an engine failure, while the Jordanian driver Ihab Al-Sharfa finished the fourth special stage in seventh place in the international rally.