After a battle royale on the opening day of the Jordan Rally, rally legend Nasser Al-Attiyah holds a slender overnight lead from rising star Abdullah Al-Rawahi.
Can the king of rallying hold out and secure his 17th Jordan title?
00:00Following a scintillating day of top-class racing, Middle East Rally King Nasser Saleh Alatia and his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera have opened up a 13.5 second lead after day one of the Jordan Rally.
00:22The flying Qatari overturned a margin of less than a second at the halfway point on Friday to take a slender overnight lead from Oman's Abdullah Al-Rawahi and his Jordanian co-driver Atta Al-Hamoud.
00:36It's a tough day because the stage is really long, the first one, and the heat also, it makes a lot of changing, you know, but okay, finally we are leading leg one, and I am really quite happy, I will try to keep the lead until tomorrow.
01:00And a word about your closest rival here, a younger driver?
01:04Yeah, Abdullah, he's really doing a good job today, and he's been fighting and fast, but like, you know, we need to be smart also for this race.
01:16Rising star Al-Rawahi once again underlined his potential with another fearless performance, keeping the pressure on the 16-time Jordan Rally champion throughout the day.
01:30We did our level best to maybe try to keep the lead after the first loop we were leading, but we lost a bit of time, but we're still very close.
01:42I think the competition or the battle is still on until tomorrow.
01:48Tomorrow's stages are different than today. I think it's going to be also tough, very tricky as well, but we're going to stay consistent with our pace, the same as what we did today, and hopefully we'll do well.
02:07Meanwhile, reigning Middle East champion Abdulaziz Al-Khawahri of Qatar and his Irish co-driver Lorcan Moore came home third to stay in touch, going into tomorrow's six special stages that will run through some of the most sensational backdrops in world rallying.
02:24Yeah, it was a tough day. We tried our best, but it was not our best day, but it's okay. We are third now. Big gap to the front and big gap behind me. So we'll see.
02:34Tomorrow one more day. Try to change some few things in the car. Try to make it more drivable, let's say. But for sure it was not one of my best days in Middle East community. So let's see. Let's try to improve a lot tomorrow.
02:48Let's try to improve a lot tomorrow.
03:18But before today's dazzling action, Jordan Motorsport held a memorable ceremonial start at the Royal Automobile Club in Amman on Thursday evening. It was attended by its chairman, Prince Faisal Al-Hussein and his daughter, Princess Sarah Bint Faisal.
03:44Their Royal Highnesses were then joined today at the Dead Sea by Prince Mohammed Ibn Faisal and Prince Abdullah Ibn Faisal at the rally headquarters. And their welcome attendance showed that Jordan's passion for motorsport has continued through to the next generation.
04:03So with all to play for tomorrow, it remains to be seen if anyone can reel in Alatea to keep the Middle East Championship chase alive.
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