Nasser Al-Attiyah, with co-driver Mathieu Baumel (Andorra), continued his passionate connection with the Cyprus Rally on Sunday and have won the 50th edition of the event for a record-making eighth time in a Volkswagen Polo GTi R5.
Abdullah Al-Rawahi/Ata Al-Hmoud secured second, and Cypriots Christos Demosthenous, with co-driver Kypros Christodoulou, came in third place.
Al-Attiyah covered a total distance of 194.88 kilometres of a total of 12 special stages in the two days event within three hours, three minutes and 38 seconds, finishing with number one position in the general classification; it was 3 minutes and 21 seconds faster than Al-Rawahi with a Skoda Fabia R5, who stood thried in 2021 event.
The award ceremony was held on Sunday evening at the old Nicosia city hall in Eleftheria Square. The chief guest of the event was Qatar Ambassador to Cyprus Ali Yousef Al-Mulla, who presented the trophy to the winner of the top positions.
Similarly, the Municipal Council of Nicosia Valerios Danielides presented the second-place trophy, and Imad Lahoud, FIA MERC coordinator, gave the third-place trophy to the respective winners.
It was the eighth victory of Al-Attiyah’s in the Cyprus Rally (2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2023), and every time, he displayed his exceptional skills.Second in wins overall, with four victories (2004, 2005, 2006, 2009), is the 9-time WRC champion Sébastien Loeb.
Surprisingly Middle East champion has not gotten recognition as expected so far
as the Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) 2023 is concerned, which is completed
in Cyprus with its 5th event of the season.
meanwhile from the next time the FIA will be assigned the task of deciding the champion of competitions as per its Regional Championship Regulations.This decision has been taken keeping in view the 30 points that Al-Attiyah secured from his victory and the 24 points that Al-Rawahi got from the 2nd position. The two are tied on 108 points, with a close fight between them.In this year’s MERC, both of them have managed to win and two stood second and one faced retirement in Oman, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon and Cyprus.
For the MERC2 category, the championship was completed in Cyprus, with Mshari Al-Thefiri (Kuwait), with co-driver Nasser Al-Kuwari (Qatar) and a Mitsubishi Evo X car, winning the title for an eighth time.
Al-Attiyah said that it would not be unfair to share the title between him and Al-Rawahi. He also expressed that he is hopeful for the Cyprus Rally to return to the ERC (European Rally Championship).
Al-Rawahi said that his next goal is to participate and compete in the WRC (World Rally Championship).