Rally Saudi Arabia– May 1st-3rd, 2025

FIA Middle East Rally Championship, round 3

For immediate release
Friday, May 2nd, 2025

Al-Attiyah and Carrera lead after demanding opening day of Rally Saudi Arabia

  • MERC2 and MERC4 advantages for Al-Zubair and Al-Muhannadi

JEDDAH (SAUDI ARABIA): Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera moved into a lead of 24.2 seconds after the opening day’s action at Rally Saudi Arabia powered by Jameel Motorsports on Friday.

The Qatari endured the high temperatures on round three of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) and guided his Autotek Škoda Fabia RS to two stage wins over demanding stages to the east of Jeddah. Flying Finn Juho Hänninen and his co-driver Janni Hussi were the nearest challengers in a Toyota Yaris entered by the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT for WRC evaluation purposes. The Finn won stage three.

Al-Attiyah said: “Everything went well. The most important thing is that we are in the lead at the end of the first day. Hopefully, tomorrow will be another strong day.”

Hänninen added: “Quite short afternoon but safety first. Hopefully we can drive a bit more tomorrow. The plan is to get familiar with the conditions and try to learn as much as we can from this rally.”

Local driver Rakan Al-Rashed teamed up with Hugo Magalhães to hold third place in his Toyota and stay on the coat tails of Al-Attiyah in the battle for the regional Drivers’ Championship.

Qatar’s Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari continued his recent run of good form to hold fourth with Lorcan Moore, but the joint 2023 regional champion Abdullah Al-Rawahi lost time during the morning with a series of punctures and slipped to fifth.

MERC2 front-runner Abdullah Al-Zubair, Qatari veteran Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya, SSV category entrant Hamza Bakhashab, Jordanian driver Shaker Jweihan and Bassel Abu Hamdan rounded off the top 10.

Bakhashab said: “These were the first stages in my life in this type of rallying. My first actual stage was good and I had a good time. The next one was slippery and the car was sliding too much. These rallies are a huge difference to cross-country. You need 100% concentration. You cannot miss one note or one second because, in a blink, it can be over. Full gas, full brakes, great fun.”

Top seed Al-Attiyah launched his attack from the start of the 12.94km of the Wadi Al-Matwi stage. The Qatari set the quickest time of 7min 58.2sec to snatch an early advantage of 10.6 seconds over the regional debutant Juho Hänninen. Oman Rally Team’s Abdullah Al-Rawahi came home in third.

Um Al-Jerem was the second stage of the morning’s loop and another tough challenge for competitors with Hänninen recovering strongly to set the quickest time to reduce Al-Attiyah’s lead to 9.4 seconds on the return to Jeddah for service.

Despite his co-driver Janni Hussi feeling unwell in the heat, the Finn was upbeat after his morning’s work. He said: “It was okay, No big issue just really slippery, both stages. Everything went smoothly. For us, coming from Finland, where it is zero degrees, this is different. I was not expecting it to be so rough, more than Safari actually.”

Al-Attiyah said: “The stages were really nice. It’s new for everyone and we had to be careful from the beginning. Now we have the reference and the good pace notes we can push more. But it is easy to get punctures. We were smart in the second stage and we only lost one second to Juho in the last one.”

Rakan Al-Rashed settled into third place in his Toyota Yaris. “It was quite challenging. The two stages were surprising in places. I thought the grip would have been better. It was loose and there were many rough places and we needed to manage the challenge ahead of us.”

Al-Kuwari and MERC2 leader Abdullah Al-Zubair settled into fourth and fifth but Al-Rawahi slipped to sixth after a series of punctures. Al-Rawahi said: “We had a puncture. The second stage we were pushing, the pace was good and I was happy with the car.  At the end of the stage, maybe three kilometres to go, we hit a rock and bent the rim. I thought it was a puncture. I lost focus a bit and we lost time. The third stage, we were pushing and we hit a rock after 5km and we had to change the puncture immediately. We lost a lot of time because it was very narrow and soft and we had to find a place to stop and change the wheel. Then we had a puncture at the end of the stage but we were happy to make the end of the loop.”

Al-Kuwari said: “Stages two and three were nice. I catch Abdullah Al-Rawahi after five kilometres in stage three. He had changed a tyre. I could not pass him. I was in the dust for 15 or 16km. It was unfair. I was doing very well. They are difficult and challenging. It’s for everyone but nice stages, except for stage one.”

Rashid Al-Muhannadi led the way from Payyaakkal ‘Saneem’ Panikkaveettil and Saad Al-Harqan in the MERC4 category after Mohammed Al-Marri stopped near the end of the third stage. Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez suffered throttle issues on his Škoda.

Qatar Academy driver Al-Marri said: “We managed to get some time back on Rashed Al-Muhannadi but there were some loose stones. We hit them and lost an axle and could not finish the stage. We will continue on Saturday.”

Drivers concluded the day’s action in the punishing heat of the afternoon. Al-Attiyah shaved eight seconds off his morning run through Wadi Al-Matwi and increased his lead over Hänninen to 24.2 seconds. Al-Rashed tightened his grip on third but Qatar’s Saad Al-Harqan failed to start the afternoon section in his Peugeot 208 Rally4.

Rally Saudi Arabia is being hosted by the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF) in collaboration with the Saudi Motorsport Company. It is being run under the supervision of the FIA as an official candidate rally for the WRC under the Ministry of Sport.

Tomorrow (Saturday), competitors tackle two loops of three new special stages to the north of Jeddah, starting with the first pass through the Al-Ghulal (11.70km), Asfan (26.55km) and Thahban (8.46km) stages from 07.30hrs, 08.08hrs and 09.56hrs, respectively.

The second passage through Thahban from 15.22hrs also acts as the event’s Power Stage with bonus points available for the fastest crews.

2025 Rally Saudi Arabia – positions after leg 1 (unofficial):

  1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Candido Carrera (ESP) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2 29min 56.1sec
  2. Juho Hänninen (FIN)/Janni Hussi (FIN) Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2                                                                                                                    30min 20.3sec*
  3. Rakan Al-Rashed (KSA)/Hugo Magalhães (POR) Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2 31min 12.3sec
  4. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Lorcan Moore (IRL) Citroën C3 Rally 2                                                                                                                    31min 39.4sec
  5. Abdullah Al-Rawahi (OMA)/Ross Whittock (GBR) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2 34min 00.4sec
  6. Abdullah Al-Zubair (OMA)/Taha Al-Zadjali (OMA) Subaru Impreza WRX Sti 34min 17.5sec
  7. Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Ziad Chehab (LBN) Ford Fiesta Mk II Rally 2 34min 51.9sec
  8. Hamza Bakhashab (KSA)/Marcin Pasek (POL) Can-Am Maverick R (SSV) 35min 04.2sec
  9. Shaker Jweihan (JOR)/Aisvydas Paliukenas (LTU) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X                                                                                                                    35min 49.7sec
  10. Bassel Abu Hamdan (KSA)/Firas Elias (LBN) Škoda Fabia Rally 2                                                                                                                    37min 25.7sec
  11. Shadi Shaban (JOR)/Samer Issa (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX (NAT) 37min 34.1sec
  12. Ihab Al-Shurafa (JOR)/Ahmad Jankhout (JOR) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2 38min 30.5sec
  13. Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez (JOR)/Vili Oslaj (SLO) Škoda Fabia Rally 2                                                                                                                    38min 37.4sec
  14. Rashid Al-Muhannadi (QAT)/Szymon Gospodarczyk (POL) Peugeot 208 Rally 4 38min 48.1sec
  15. Shadi El Fakih (LBN)/Joseph Kmeid (LBN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X                                                                                                                    38min 52.5sec
  16. Jassim Al-Muqahwi (KUW)/Suleiman Al-Helal (KUW) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 39min 20.2sec
  17. Joanna Hassoun (LBN)/Dolyne Schlink (LBN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX (NAT) 40min 43.9sec*
  18. Zakariya Al-Aamri (OMA)/Mohammed Al-Mazroui (OMA) Subaru Impreza WRX Sti 41min 28.9sec
  19. Payyaakkal ‘Saneem’ Panikkaveettil (IND)/Musa Sherif (IND) Ford Fiesta Rally 4 42min 34.1sec
  20. Mohammed Al-Shorafa (JOR)/Yazan Juma (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX (NAT) 42min 38.3sec*

Saad Al-Harqan (QAT)/Pierre Delorme (FRA) Peugeot 208 Rally 4                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       RETIRED – AFTER SS3

Mohammed Al-Marri (QAT)/Giovanni Bernacchini (ITA) Peugeot 208 Rally 4                                                                                                                                                                                                               RETIRED – SS3

*denotes not registered for the MERC

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Published On: 2 May 2025