00:03Qatar's Nasser Saleh Alatia and his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera won all six special
00:10stages on Friday to move into a commanding lead after the first leg of the Jordan Rally.
00:18The Skoda Fabia driver was in a class of his own on the third round of the FIA Middle East
00:25Rally Championship and he's built up an overnight advantage of 1 minute 13 seconds.
00:30Yeah this was a good feeling you know really we are happy we push a little bit from morning and
00:37we
00:38we took really a good time and then afternoon we tried just to to manage all three stages and
00:43we did a good time also yeah we are we have a good time now a good gap you know
00:49to Abdullah and
00:50just tomorrow we start the first car and we try you know to manage to be in the lead.
00:57Hot on the multiple champions heels though is young Omani Abdullah Al Rawahi who was regretting his
01:04choice of tyre in the morning loop as a gamble that failed to pay off. He improved on the second
01:10loop
01:11to whole second but knows it could have been a lot closer going into day two. To be honest it's
01:16not the
01:16day we wanted or expected obviously we took a gamble with the tyres going with a medium compound
01:24yeah it's a bit too soft for these conditions we had to take a gamble because during testing
01:31I knew I wasn't fast enough comparing to the old car we still didn't get the right setup for it
01:37and we tried our best to reach to the you know pace we need to so I had to take
01:45a gamble at least in the
01:46first loop if if it worked then it was going to give me a you know a big advantage at
01:51least in the
01:52beginning but um yeah we didn't turn out to be the best decision. Saudi Arabia's Hamza Bakhashab is
02:02tackling the first full program of Middle East rallies in a Toyota Yaris supported by Jamil Motorsport.
02:08He and the Irish co-driver Lorcan Moore settled into a comfortable third position overnight.
02:14A very fun day today uh amazing stages amazing pace actually I beat my uh let's say theoretical
02:21record for baptism I had a one 605 in mind I got a 602 and it wasn't the best you
02:29know could be a lot
02:29better so uh very happy very happy with the pace uh thanks also to Lorcan my co-driver did an
02:35amazing
02:36amazing job today uh yeah car feels amazing stages were good all good. Elsewhere Jordan's Shakerjwehan
02:46was the dominant force in the MERC2 category and starts in fifth place tomorrow behind Saudi Arabia's
02:53Basil Abu Hamdan in a Volkswagen. The event got underway on Thursday evening with an impressive
03:03opening ceremony at the newly opened Hoverop motorsport facility at the Dead Sea which was
03:09attended by his royal highness Prince Faisal Al Hussain the chairman of Jordan Motorsport who also
03:15followed the rally closely today. So there is still plenty to drive for as we go into Saturday's second
03:24and final day but it will take something out of the ordinary for 17-time Jordan rally winner Alatia not
03:32to add 2026 to its bulging portfolio of Middle East championship wins
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