Al-Attiyah Leads After Day One of the Cyprus Rally

Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah led at the end of the first day of the Cyprus Rally. In the event organised by the Cyprus Automobile Association since 1970, Al-Attiyah won four of the six special stages. With this result, he moved closer to his 21st title in the Middle East Rally Championship and his tenth win in this event.

Simos Galatariotis is directly behind Al-Attiyah, 53 seconds back. Galatariotis won one stage. Both drivers suffered punctures on the final stage of the day, losing about two minutes each.

Taking advantage of this, Oman's Al-Rawahi reduced the gap to Galatariotis to 1 minute 12 seconds. Al-Rawahi is also aiming for the championship.

Last year's local champions, Yiangou and Nicolaou, are fourth in a Hyundai i20. In the afternoon stages they overtook Poseidias and Pambos Laos. Poseidias and Laos dropped to fifth, but they still lead the Rally3 category.

The Turkish Cypriot crew of Sukuroglu and Topcuoslu are sixth in a Volkswagen Polo. Zenonos and Christofi are seventh, and Manoli and Petros Laos are eighth. Manoli and Laos also lead the two-wheel-drive category.

Of the 16 crews that started in the morning, 10 completed the first leg. Jordan's Jweihan and Juna, who started the rally on Friday, announced they would only compete on the second day.

Notable retirements from the day include Al-Atya and Chehab, who went off the road on the first stage. Bakhashab and Matar retired on the final stage, while K. Laos and Stylianou, and Prodromou and Episkopou, who were driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, also withdrew.