LUSAIL (Qatar): The Norwegian pair of Andreas Mikkelsen and Torstein Eriksen stopped the clocks in 3min 25.1sec to hold a 3.1-second lead after the opening 3.27km special stage of Qatar International Rally at a blustery LCSC Karting Academy late on Thursday evening.
Twenty-two cars and competitors from 14 nations had been flagged away by the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation’s President Abdulrahman Al-Mannai and Executive Director Amro Al Hamad in front of hundreds of spectators at a windswept Al Maha Island earlier in the evening, shortly after nine of the leading drivers had attended the official FIA pre-event press conference on the start podium.
Behind the Norwegian duo, second place on the asphalt opening stage went to Finland’s Emil Lindholm, while Mads Østberg, local favourite Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari rounded off the top five.
The Jordanian duo of Shaker Jweihan and Nancy Al-Majali and the Lebanese pairing of Jad Al-Aawar and Vicken Kanledjian shared the spoils with the equal fastest time in the MERC2 category.
Sligo-based Niall Burns was a late replacement for Portugal’s Hugo Magalhães sitting alongside local driver Khalid Al-Suwaidi. The 33-year-old Irishman lives at Kilmacrennan in County Donegal and finished fourth overall with James Greer at the recent Galway International Rally. The new pairing finished the opening stage in sixth place after current MERC leader Abdullah Al-Rawahi incurred a 15-second penalty and slipped back.
In the build-up to the start of the rally, Sports Racing Technologies (SRT) registered for the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC). The Latvian team is running Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evos for the Scandinavian trio of Mads Østberg, Andreas Mikkelsen and Emil Lindholm in Qatar.
Mikkelsen said: “I am actually quite excited about this. It’s a new challenge for me. I was testing in Portugal on Monday and then arrived here at 3am the following morning and, since then, it’s been a nice experience and a chance to try something totally different. I actually came to Qatar once before, for the FIA prize giving, but this is my first taste of the desert here. I did do the Dakar so I guess this is a special stage version of that!”
Østberg added: I remember asking Nasser last year how he was that fast and he just said it was flat out! I know that is not the case. There are places where you need to be very careful. I take responsibility for the water leak last year. That was my fault! But I can take confidence from last year into the weekend.”
Sadoon Al Kuwari competed in Qatar in his early career against the likes of the late Lars-Erik Torph and the 1986 winner Björn Waldegård, when Toyota used to come to Qatar for pre-event testing before the Safari Rally. The veteran began his 40th year of competing with the seventh fastest time in the opening stage.
Competitors tackle two loops of three gravel special stages through the northern deserts on Friday.
A run through the 16.15km of Al-Khor gets proceedings underway from 09.55hrs and precedes the first pass through a slightly revised Ras Laffan (15.44km) speed test at 10.35hrs and the 16.70km of Al-Thakira (11.00hrs).
The three specials will be repeated in the afternoon at 13.10hrs, 13.50hrs and 14.15hrs, respectively, after a return to Lusail for a midday regroup and 30-minute service.
