LUSAIL (Qatar): Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera won five of the 13 special stages on the way to a resounding victory in the Qatar International Rally on Saturday. 

A second success of the Qatari’s 2025 campaign to win a 20th FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) title also marked his 18th in Qatar from 25 starts and gives him a strong foundation on which to build this year’s title challenge in his Autotek-run Škoda Fabia RS. The win was the 88th in his illustrious MERC career. 

A delighted Al-Attiyah said: “I am really happy to win this race. It is a home rally and we did a good job. I am happy with Candido and the team. It is a nice start for 2025. Just 0.8 (seconds) between me and Mads on the Power Stage. It was a good level.” 

His new co-driver Carrera earned his second career MERC rally win in the space of three weeks. The Spaniard said: “The start of the new partnership is very good. I am very happy with two victories with Nasser. It’s very easy to work with him. It’s good for the championship. It’s good for me because it’s a long time since I was reading the pace notes in English. It’s different rallies, very strategic, with the flags and fences. But I am very happy.”

On his fourth visit to the event, Mads Østberg finished as runner-up for a third year in succession after failing to finish on his first appearance in 2022. Punctures on Friday put paid to an aggressive challenge by the Norwegian and his Romanian co-driver Sergiu Itu but the crew won eight of the 13 stages, including a clean sweep of six fastest times over the final day to finish 1min 12.8sec behind Al-Attiyah. 

Østberg said: “Eight stage wins but that doesn’t count. It takes only one stage to lose the rally. I have learned that on more than one occasion. It’s a shame, but I look at the positives. To be here and to enjoy this rally is really amazing. I take that from here and even just to fight with Nasser on these stages and compare our stage times is really an adventure. I love it. We can see that we have the speed. We just need to nail the strategy. We tried something else this year and it didn’t pay off at all. We need to go home and investigate and try again.”

Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and Lorcan Moore ceded second to Østberg on the first stage of the morning but were able to fend off a fierce late challenge from Abdullah Al-Rawahi and Ata Al-Hmoud to claim the final place on the podium and a vital haul of MERC points in their Citroën C3 by just 3.3 seconds. But the Qatari was handed a five-second penalty on Saturday evening and that dropped him to fourth place. 

Speaking before the penalty, Al-Kuwari said: “Very close. Abdullah gave us a hard time. He was very fast. He was pushing like hell. We were pushing but not with any risks. I like to be safe. I don’t like to break the cars. mechanics working with me like that, you know. I am very happy. It was a very difficult rally. With the Citroën, we don’t have any reference on this type of rally. It was a hard rally for the car but it performed very well, suspension, handling, everything was very good. I learned more and more. Hopefully, in Saudi and Jordan we will be a bit faster because I think the car will be better there.”

Al-Rawahi was pleasantly surprised to gain third place after the finish. The Omani said: “We pushed like crazy, just three seconds away (before the penalty for Al-Kuwari). Unfortunately, we lost some time on one stage and we had a lot of punctures on the first day, Anyway, I am happy with this performance. The pace is there but I got some penalties and I was quite unlucky with the punctures.”

Rakan Al-Rashed enjoyed his first appearance in Qatar and managed his pace sensibly over the two days of high-speed action in the northern deserts to finish fifth overall in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2 with Portuguese co-driver Hugo Magalhães. Coupled with his runner-up spot at round one in Oman, Al-Rashed is now in a strong position to challenge championship leader Al-Attiyah this season.

The Saudi said: “I am happy to be here. Obviously, it’s unclear where my pace is. I am still getting confused. After this rally we are going to have to review all the weekend and see where we can improve. I’m happy that we finished and looking forward now to my home event.”

Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya is chasing Masters Championship and MERC points with Lebanese co-driver Ziad Chehab in a Motortune Ford Fiesta. He surrendered sixth overall to a hard-charging Denis Krotov and Yury Kulikov in their SRT Škoda Fabia RS but earned a second win in the new Masters Championship and collected valuable MERC points to boot with seventh overall. 

Rashid Al-Muhannadi guided his Peugeot 208 Rally 4 to a second successive victory in the MERC4 category. The Qatari teamed up with Irishman Gary Mcelhinney again to finish eighth.  

The battle for supremacy in MERC2 developed into a showdown between the Omani duo of Abdullah Al-Zubair and Zakariya Al-Aamri. When mechanical issues sidelined Al-Zubair before the penultimate stage, that opened the door for Al-Aamri to claim the win and 10th overall behind ninth-placed Jordanian driver Shadi Shaban. 

Jad Al-Aawar and Ahmad Khaled were second and fourth in MERC2 and 11th and 13th overall with Kuwait’s Jassim Al-Muqahwi sandwiched between the Lebanese duo. 

Both Saad Al-Harqan and Mohammed Al-Marri excelled on their rallying debuts with the Qatar Motorsport Sports Academy. The rookies guided their Peugeot 208s to 14th and 15th overall with Al-Harqan winning the Junior MERC category. 

The 50th anniversary rally was held under the chairmanship of QMMF President Abdulrahman Al-Mannai, senior committee member Abdulrazaq Al-Kuwari and the QMMF’s Executive Director Amro Al-Hamad.

His Excellency Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Minister of Sports and Youth, attended the start of the rally along with His Excellency Mr. Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Minister of Municipality.

Saturday – as it happened 

Twenty-five of the 28 starters began the final day with action getting underway on the Umm Birka stage that was shortened to 8.85km because of technical reasons and started at the 12.66km point of the original stage. Østberg set the pace and that enabled him to overhaul Al-Kuwari and snatch second overall. He also trimmed Al-Attiyah’s comfortable lead to 1min 42.1sec after the Qatari suffered a puncture. 

Krotov began to make in-roads into Al-Atya’s hold on sixth place and closed the gap to 7.3 seconds. Al-Muhannadi climbed to eighth at the expense of MERC2 leader Al-Zubair. 

Crews headed swiftly to the first pass through the Ras Laffan (16.75km) stage. Al-Attiyah stopped the clocks in 9min 19.7sec but still haemorrhaged 2.1 seconds to a flying Østberg, who got a slow puncture near the stage finish. Krotov overhauled Al-Atya to claim sixth and Al-Zubair regained eighth from Al-Muhannadi. Ihab Al-Shorafa retired his Mitsubishi with a broken rear-left suspension mount after the stage.

Al-Thakhira (13.98km) was the last test of the short morning loop before the return to Lusail for a regroup and service. Al-Attiyah safely negotiated the challenge and headed to Lusail with a lead of 1min 35.4sec. Østberg claimed his third stage win of the morning. Both Qatar’s Mohamed Al-Atteya and Indian driver Mohamed Mansoor Parol (engine) stopped near the end of the special. 

Al-Attiyah said: “The first stage, we had a puncture from the first 5km. But we managed to finish easily and we made a good pace. It’s nice. Now we take it easy and save everything for the Power Stage.” 

Østberg said: “A bit more luck on our side. The punctures came a lot closer to the end. We could reach the finish without a big time loss. We had two punctures but it was a good morning for us. We cannot complain.”

Al-Rawahi said: “We were quite good on the first one. Then we tried to push on the second one and there was a place with a lot of dust coming to a hairpin. I tried to take it flat so I don’t lose time and I lost the track and around 15 seconds. That was a pity. We started the last stage and tried to push again and managed to get 10 seconds on Abdulaziz.”

The second pass through Umm Birka kick-started the final loop of three specials. Østberg beat an easing Al-Attiyah by 11.7 seconds to snatch his fourth stage win of the day and Al-Rawahi trimmed 1.3 seconds off Al-Kuwari’s hold on third with the second fastest time. The gap between the pair was down to 18.9 seconds with two stages remaining. Al-Zubair started the stage late, picked up a 30-second penalty and lost his MERC2 lead to Al-Aamri. 

Ras Laffan 2 was the penultimate special of the weekend. Al-Attiyah carded the target time of 9min 11.5sec but Østberg was 5.1 seconds quicker and earned yet another stage win. A flying Al-Rawahi sliced 11.1 seconds off Al-Kuwari’s hold on third place and reduced the deficit to just 7.8 seconds. Al-Zubair was forced to retire with mechanical problems before the stage. 

The final Al-Thakhira test also acted as the event’s Power Stage with an additional five points awarded to the winner, down to a single bonus point for fifth. Al-Attiyah had tried to preserve what little rubber he had remaining for a last push for additional MERC points and he started the last stage with a lead of 1min 18.6sec. 

He was 5.7 seconds quicker than his morning’s run and laid down the gauntlet with a time of 7min 14.4sec. Østberg was eight-tenths of a second quicker than the Qatari but was not registered for MERC points. Al-Kuwari carded a time of 7min 22.3sec and, even though he was beaten by Al-Rawahi by 4.5 seconds, he just held on to third place.

The FIA Middle East Rally Championship now heads to Saudi Arabia for the first time since 2010 for the new Jeddah-based round of the series on May 1st-3rd. 

2025 Qatar International Rally – final positions after SS13:

1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Candido Carrera (ESP) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2             1hr 42min 15.0sec

2. Mads Østberg (NOR)/Sergiu Itu (ROU) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2                                1hr 43min 27.8sec*

3. Abdullah Al-Rawahi (OMA)/Ata Al-Hmoud (JOR) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2                     1hr 44min 40.7sec

4. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Lorcan Moore (IRL) Citroën C3 Rally 2                            1hr 44min 42.4sec

5. Rakan Al-Rashed (KSA)/Hugo Magalhães (POR) Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2                    1hr 50min 35.0sec

6. Denis Krotov (KGZ)/Yury Kulikov (CYP) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2                                1hr 52min 01.1sec

7. Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Ziad Chehab (LBN) Ford Fiesta Mk II Rally 2              1hr 53min 35.7sec

8. Rashid Al-Muhannadi (QAT)/Gary McElhinney (IRL) Peugeot 208 Rally 4                    2hr 07min 17.2sec

9. Shadi Shaban (JOR)/Samer Issa (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX                              2hr 07min 36.9sec

10. Zakariya Al-Aamri (OMA)/Mohammed Al-Mazroui (OMA) Subaru Impreza N14                       2hr 08min 55.0sec

11. Jad Al-Aawar (LBN)/Vicken Kanledjian (LBN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X                                  2hr 13min 53.0sec

12. Jassim Al-Muqahwi (KUW)/Suleiman Al-Helal (KUW) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X            2hr 14min 48.9sec

13. Ahmad Khaled (LBN)/Samer Sfeir (LBN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X                            2hr 15min 50.9sec

14. Saad Al-Harqan (QAT)/Pierre Delorme (FRA) Peugeot 208 Rally 4                           2hr 19min 56.0sec

15. Mohammed Al-Marri (QAT)/Yannick Roche (FRA) Peugeot 208 Rally 4                     2hr 20min 50.2sec

16. Payyaakkal ‘Saneem’ Panikkaveettil (IND)/Musa Sherif (IND) Ford Fiesta Rally 2        2hr 22min 23.5sec

17. Christiano Gabbarrini (ITA)/Alessandro Forni (ITA) Subaru Impreza WRX STi            2hr 22min 53.0sec*

18. Ibrahim Al-Muhanna (KSA)/Hani Al-Noumesi (KSA) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T4)                       2hr 33min 05.6sec

19. Shadi El Fakih (LBN)/Joseph Kmeid (LBN) Renault Clio                                         2hr 45min 31.7sec

20. Mirko Carrara (ITA)/Stefano Tiraboschi (ITA) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T4)                   2hr 49min 13.1sec*

21. Yosra Jazzar (KSA)/Faisal Al-Suwayh (KSA) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T4)                     3hr 22min 03.7sec

Abdullah Al-Zubair (OMA)/Taha Al-Zadjali (OMA) Subaru Impreza                                RETIRED – after SS11

Mohamed Mansoor Parol (IND)/Lenin Joseph (IND) Subaru Impreza                            RETIRED – SS10

Mohammed Al-Atteya (QAT)/Savvas Laos (CYP) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X                                  RETIRED – SS10*

Ihab Al-Shurafa (JOR)/Ahmad Jankhout (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X                         RETIRED – after SS9

28 starters, 21 finishers

*denotes not registered for the MERC