Friday 06 / February / 2026
LUSAIL (Qatar): Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Candido Carrera were firmly in command of the 2026 Qatar International Rally after six special stages to the north of Doha on Friday.
The Autotek Škoda Fabia RS won five of the gravel speed tests and headed into the night halt with a comfortable advantage of 92 seconds over Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and his brother Nasser in a Sarrazin Škoda.
Al-Attiyah said: “Today we had some slow punctures and we tried to manage. I think in this kind of race you need to be careful and not have a crazy speed. We did a good job and have a decent lead. This is a good gap but tomorrow we need to be strong. The suspension was much better this afternoon. We stiffened it a bit.”
Al-Kuwari added: “Sometimes to be behind Nasser you are like the winner of the rally. It’s not bad. I am missing some mileage but I am happy. We didn’t push like hell. We will try and improve a little tomorrow.”
Mohammed Al-Marri belied his lack of Rally2 experience to mix it with his more experienced rivals from the outset. The young Qatari teamed up with Frenchman Pierre Delorme to drive a Citroën C3 for the first time and held a strong third place.
Al-Marri said: “We will try to hold our gap to at least make it a top three on the podium for Qatari guys. I don’t have the seat time in the car but I am trying to do my best.”
Stopping to change a flat tyre on the opening stage cost Hamza Bakhashab and Lorcan Moore over three minutes in their Jameel Motorsport Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, but the Saudi found a good pace from then on and climbed back to fifth at the midday point. He was then able to pass Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya and Ziad Chehab over the afternoon’s stages and settled into fourth place. Al-Atya continued to lead the FIA Master Driver category in his Ford Fiesta.
Bakhashab said: “The second loop was way better than the first one. It was cleaner and faster. Still a lot of catching up to do after the puncture.”
Al-Atya added: “I enjoyed the second loop. I pushed more and improved my times. We need to keep calm like that and finish the rally. We need to be clever tomorrow.”
A double puncture on the second stage ruined Abdullah Al-Rawahi’s challenge for a maiden win in Qatar and the Omani was forced to stop and change one tyre with the loss of over five minutes. He and Jordanian co-driver Ata Al-Hmoud persevered with their battle-worn Škoda, only to get another flat tyre on the last stage of the day. They slipped back to seventh.
Al-Rawahi said: “A lot of flat tyres for us today and we lost a lot of time. I don’t think we can recover unless someone else has punctures. The pace was there. I am happy with that. We can recover one or two places but I don’t think the podium is possible now. It was in the morning after that flat tyre but not now.”
Shaker Jweihan was the class act in the FIA MERC2 category with Mustafa Juma in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. He won all but one of the stages on his way to sixth overall and an overnight advantage of 2min 24.5sec over 12th-placed Sami Fleifel and Yazan Juma.
The Jordanian said: “The stages are rough. It’s crazy with a lot of stones and rocks. We were not taking any risks, honestly. There is not a lot to gain and plenty to lose. Tomorrow, we will ease the pace.”
A handful of seconds separated Rashid Al-Muhannadi, Nouef Al-Sowaidi and Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah at the midday regroup in the battle for FIA MERC4 honours. The three Peugeot 208 drivers became embroiled in a gripping contest for supremacy over the afternoon’s loop of stages.
Al-Attiyah and Laos Savvas managed to sneak in front of Al-Muhannadi and Gary McElhinney on the final stage to hold eighth overall and a 3.2-second lead. Al-Sowaidi and Aisvydas Paliukenas were just 2.1 seconds further adrift and Ahmad Shaheen Al-Muhannadi and Taha Al-Zadjali were in touching distance in fourth in MERC4 and 11th overall.
Behind Fleifel, the Lebanese duo of Charbel Chebly and Carlos Hanna were 13th overall and third in MERC2, just five seconds behind the Jordanians, until they suffered electrical issues before the start of stage six and retired. Oman’s Zakariya Al-Aamri and Mohamed Al-Mazrui moved up to third in the class.
Nineteen of the original 23 starters completed the leg.
Friday – as it happened
Bakhashab and Al-Rawahi were handed stage-opening duties after finishing fifth and sixth of the Rally2 crews on Thursday’s qualifying stage. Al-Attiyah was sixth on the road through the 16.54km of the new Lejthaya stage in the Al-Shamal municipality. Cool and cloudy conditions and a slight breeze greeted crews on the run north.
Bakhashab stopped the clocks in 12min 23.2sec on his first ever MERC special stage in Qatar after stopping for three minutes to change a puncture. Al-Rawahi set the benchmark time of 9min 07.5sec. Al-Kuwari temporarily slotted into second with a run of 9min 23.6sec until Al-Attiyah displaced his fellow Qatari with a run of 9min 11.4sec. Al-Rawahi had an early lead of 3.9 seconds until he was later handed a 15-second time penalty for hitting two stage gates.
Jweihan took an early 17-second lead in MERC2 over Al-Aamri with Chebly holding third and Fleifel in fourth. Al-Muhannadi was the class of the Rally4 field but Shadi El-Fakih’s Rally5 Renault stopped briefly in the stage.
Payyaakkal Saneem was sidelined on the road section after the stage with electrical problems on his Ford Fiesta Rally4. Mohammed Al-Atteya returned to Lusail after stopping with engine-related electrical issues on the road section to the opening special.
The tight morning timetable continued with the 16.11km of the nearby Waab Al-Mashrab stage. Bakhashab was back into a competitive pace after his opening setback, but Al-Rawahi stopped in the stage and lost five minutes with double puncture woes.
Al-Kuwari set the target time of 9min 52.4sec but that was soon overhauled by Al-Attiyah’s run of 9min 38.3sec and the defending champion moved into a 26.3-second lead. Jweihan extended his advantage in MERC2 over Fleifel to over a minute.
Al-Waab (18.14km) was the last stage of the rapid-fire morning loop. Bakhashab safely negotiated his first loop of Qatar stages and had climbed back into fifth overall, despite an overshoot and a slow puncture. Al-Rawahi set the target time of 10min 01.9sec but the damage had already been done on the previous stage.
Bakhashab said: “We had a puncture in the first stage, like five kilometres in and we tried to continue on it. But, six kilometres from the finish, the tyre started breaking the car so I had to stop and change it. We wasted a lot of time there. The second one was not so bad but we had a lot of dust coming into the car. I tried to manage more but it was all good. The third stage was better until we got a slow puncture and the handling was a bit off. I made one mistake at one of the sharp corners and had to stop, reverse and go through the gates to not get a penalty.”
Al-Rawahi added: “I don’t know what is up with the punctures. I keep getting a lot of punctures. Not sure if it’s the tyres or us pushing so hard. When I got the two punctures in the second one, I couldn’t tell where I got them. I was driving clean. It was quite unfortunate. We had to stop and change the one and then we drove on a slow puncture for the last stage.”
Al-Attiyah was six seconds faster than Al-Rawahi and returned to Lusail with an advantage of 46.6 seconds over Al-Kuwari. Al-Marri and Al-Atya held third and fourth overall and Jweihan was sixth in the MERC2-leading Mitsubishi.
Al-Attiyah said: “A little damage on the front from a landing. Maybe we are a bit soft (suspension) and now we check. Here if you want to push you will have a flat tyre. You need to be smart, like what we did. Now we are leading by nearly 47 seconds and will try and keep it like this.”
Jassim Al-Muqahwi stopped before the end of the stage and retired from the MERC2 battle with transmission issues, but just one second separated Al-Muhannadi and Al-Soweidi in the battle for Rally4 honours until the latter incurred a five-second penalty.
The re-run of Lejthaya kickstarted the afternoon loop. Al-Rawahi stopped the clocks in 9min 15.1sec in his repaired Fabia, beat Bakhashab by 16.1 seconds and climbed to sixth. But the Saudi closed to within 14.1 seconds of Al-Atya’s hold on fourth place.
Al-Attiyah was quickest until he got a five-second penalty for missing a stage gate, although he extended his lead over Al-Kuwari to 56.9sec. Fleifel got the better of Jweihan in MERC2 but the latter had a 1min 30.1sec cushion over closest rival Chebly. Al-Soweidi moved into a 1.6-second lead in MERC4 with the stage win.
Waab Al-Mashrab 2 was the penultimate stage of the day. Al-Rawahi continued to push hard as he tried to regain time on the leading group. He carded the target of 9min 38.5sec but Al-Attiyah was still able to beat the Omani by seven seconds. The 18-time rally winner increased his lead over Al-Kuwari to 1min 20.8sec.
Bakhashab managed to pass Al-Atya to snatch fourth place and another MERC2 stage win gave seventh-placed Jweihan a 2min 15.9sec cushion over Fleifel to take to the last stage of the day. Al-Sowaidi stopped briefly in the stage and lost his MERC4 lead to Al-Muhannadi.
Al-Waab 2 rounded off the action. Bakhashab was the first to finish and managed to hold on to fourth overall. A struggling Al-Rawahi was overtaken in the stage by Al-Atya, who held on to fifth place. The Omani suffered further tyre issues and dropped over three minutes. He lost sixth place into the bargain.
Al-Marri secured third overnight, Al-Kuwari held on to second and the stage win gave Al-Attiyah a lead of 1min 32.0sec. Jweihan moved back into sixth with a commanding MERC2 lead and Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah stole the headlines in MERC4.
Saturday
Six further special stages are planned for Saturday before the rally reaches a conclusion with the ceremonial finish at Lusail.
An opening run through the slightly modified Umm Birka special (22.98km) gets the day’s action underway at 08.03hrs and is followed by the first passes through Ras Laffan (16.73km – 08.57hrs) and a revised Al-Thakira (15.28km – 09.22hrs) speed test.
Another return to the service park in Lusail precedes the repeat runs of the three specials from 11.43hrs, 12.37hrs and 13.09hrs. The second pass through Al-Thakira will also act as the Power Stage, with additional bonus points available for the five fastest drivers.
2026 Qatar International Rally – positions after SS6:
1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Candido Carrera (ESP) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2 57min 25.0sec
2. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Nasser Al-Kuwari (QAT) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2 58min 57.0sec
3. Mohammed Al-Marri (QAT)/Pierre Delorme (FRA) Citroën C3 Rally 2 1hr 01min 28.7sec
4. Hamza Bakhashab (KSA)/Lorcan Moore (IRL) Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2 1hr 02min 47.9sec
5. Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya (QAT)/Ziad Chehab (LBN) Ford Fiesta Mk II Rally 2 1hr 03min 58.7sec
6. Shaker Jweihan (JOR)/Mustafa Juma (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 08min 06.8sec
7. Abdullah Al-Rawahi (OMA)/Ata Al-Hmoud (JOR) Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2 1hr 08min 07.2sec
8. Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Laos Savvas (CYP) Peugeot 208 Rally 4 1hr 10min 05.3sec
9. Rashid Al-Muhannadi (QAT)/Gary McEnhinney (IRL) Peugeot 208 Rally 4 1hr 10min 08.5sec
10. Nouef Al-Sowaidi (QAT)/Aisvydas Paliukenas (LTU) Peugeot 208 Rally 4 1hr 10min 10.6sec
11. Ahmad Shaheen Al-Muhannadi (QAT)/Taha Al-Zadjali (OMA) Peugeot 208 Rally 4 1hr 10min 29.3sec
12. Sami Fleifel (JOR)/Yazan Juma (JOR) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 10min 31.3sec
13. Zakariya Al-Aamri (OMA)/Mohammed Al-Mazrui (OMA) Subaru Impreza N14 1hr 12min 41.7sec
14. Christiano Gabbarrini (ITA)/Alessandro Forni (ITA) Yamaha Quaddy YXZ 1000R 1hr 13min 48.2sec
15. Ahmed Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Baptiste Cerrato (QAT) Peugeot 208 Rally 4 1hr 15min 31.7sec
16. Mirko Carrara (ITA)/Stefano Tiraboschi (ITA) Can-Am Maverick 1hr 15min 46.0sec
17. Mario Marotta (ITA)/Giada Manocchi (ITA) Yamaha Quaddy YXZ 1000R 1hr 17min 33.6sec
18. Mohamed Mansoor Parol (IND)/Lenin Joseph (IND) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 1hr 20min 31.4sec
19. Shadi El Fakih (LBN)/Joseph Kmeid (LBN) Renault Clio RS Rally 5 1hr 28min 45.8sec
Charbel Chebly (LBN)/Carlos Hanna (LBN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X RETIRED – before SS6
Jassim Al-Muqahwi (KUW)/Sulaiman Al-Helal (KUW) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X RETIRED – SS3
Payyaakkal Saneem (IND)/Musa Sherif (IND) Ford Fiesta Rally 4 RETIRED – after SS1
Mohammed Al-Atteya (QAT)/Aleksei Kuzmich (UAE) Can-Am Maverick RETIRED – before SS1
