2024 Qatar International Rally
FIA Middle East Rally Championship, round 1
For immediate release
Friday, February 2nd, 2024
HEFTY TIME PENALTY FOR AL-ATTIYAH AND BERNACCHINI IN QATAR
LUSAIL (Qatar): Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini have incurred a time penalty that was ruined their chance of winning this year’s Qatar International Rally.
The Qatari was reportedly seen driving on the road section from the fourth stage to the service area and regroup in Lusail with only three rotating wheels on his Volkswagen Polo GTi after he had collected a puncture. Event Stewards met to discuss the matter in detail and determined that the multiple FIA Middle East Rally Champion was considered to have retired from the leg after stage four.
The 30-minute penalty for missing the remaining three stages of the loop means that the French crew of Pierre-Louis Loubet and Loris Pascaud will now take a lead of 22.7 seconds over their SRT Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 team-mates Mads Østberg and Patrik Barth into the remaining six special stages on Saturday.
Loubet, like Abdullah Al-Rawahi, was awarded a five-second penalty himself by the Stewards for crossing the finish line of stage four outside the yellow boards defining the beginning of the control zone.
Al-Attiyah, for his part, plummeted to the foot of the general classification as a result of the penalty but he will restart under the Rally2 ruling on Saturday morning. The Qatari has the right to appeal against the Stewards’ decision.
Ends
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