Al Ain: Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and his Ulster co-driver Chris Patterson won a thrilling ADNOC Distribution UAE International Rally the opening round of the 2006 FIA Middle East Rally Championship held under the patronage of Lieutenant General Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Minister of Interior, which finished yesterday afternoon.

After 13 timed desert special stages in the Sweihan and Al Ain areas, Al Attiyah emerged victorious by a tiny margin of seven seconds in a nail-biting finish, with the UAE's Shaikh Khalid Al Qasimi and co-driver Nick Beech losing their overnight lead on the final corners of the last gravel stage of the event.

"Fantastic," said a jubilant Al Attiyah. "I must credit Khalid on making this an amazing rally. It was very exciting. I thought that I could do it, but it was very close and I needed to pull out all the reserves to push hard on the last stage."

Al Qasimi began the day with a 53-second lead over the defending champion, but Al-Attiyah whittled the advantage down to 48s after SS8 and to an ominous 31s after the 26 kms Dam stage. At the service point in Al Ain, after the 10th special stage, the margin was a mere 22s and there was a genuine cause for concern in Al Qasimi's service area after a thrilling morning's competition.

His team mechanics made minor suspension adjustments at the service point and, over the closing loop of three stages, the drama intensified. Al Attiyah shaved two seconds off his morning's time and reduced Al Qasimi's advantage to 18s ahead of the final run through the Dam stage.

Al Qasimi raised his pace and Al-Attiyah arrived at the start of the final stage 10s behind his rival.

It was a gripping finale to the opening round of the series. The 12.87km of the 13th Border stage settled the contest in Al Attiyah's favour on the closest finale to a Middle East rally in many years. The Qatari set a sensation time of 6m 55s, beating his morning's run of 7 min 12 sec to beat his Pirelli-backed UAE rival by a mere seven seconds.

"I had no option but to push hard today," said a distraught Al Qasimi. "But I also had to make sure that I made no mistakes. It was very exciting. I cannot remember a rally where I felt so focused and so determined. It was a great battle and this is fantastic for the rest of the championship."

"I think that was probably the best performance that Khalid has driven in his career so far," said an impressed Mohammad Bin Sulayem, chairman of the Automobile Touring Club of the United Arab Emirates, at the official finish at the Hilton Hotel in Al-Ain.

The UAE's Shaikh Suhail Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum and Shaikh Abdullah Al Qasimi played a bit part in the overall action on the second leg, but finished in solid third and fourth places overall to get their championship campaigns off to useful starts.

Jordanians Amjad Farrah and Khalid Zakaria became embroiled in a gripping tussle with Qatar's Misfer Al Merri and Adel Hussain for much of the afternoon, with seconds separating the Mitsubishi duo over the closing leg.

Standings
Positions after SS13 end of the second leg of championship (unofficial):

1. Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah (QA)/Chris Patterson (GB) Subaru Impreza WRX STi: 2h 18m 46s.
2. Shaikh Khalid Al Qasimi (UAE)/Nick Beech (GB) Subaru Impreza WRX STi: 2h 18m 53s.
3. Shaikh Suhail Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum (UAE)/Wael Marjan (UAE) Subaru Impreza WRX STi: 2h 23m 08s.
4. Shaikh Abdullah Al Qasimi (UAE)/Steve Lancaster (GB) Subaru Impreza WRX STi: 2h 25m 54s.
5. Misfer Al Merri (QA)/Adel Hussain (QA) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9: 2h 27m 06s.
6. Amjad Farrah (HKJ)/Khalid Zakaria (HKJ) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 7: 2h 27m 26s.
7. Ahmad Al Sabban (KSA)/Killian Duffy (IRL) Subaru Impreza WRX STi: 2h 28m 14s.
8. Mufeed Mubarak (KWT)/Sa'ad Al Melaifi (KWT) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8: 2h 31m 31s.
9. Sadiq Fadhel (UAE)/Imad Nabhan (UAE) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8: 2h 32m 57s.
10. Simon Nutter (GB)/Sean Kukula (GB) Subaru Impreza WRX STi: 2h 41m 10s.
11. Ron Oakeley (UAE)/Jamie Turner (UAE) Subaru Impreza WRX STi: 2h 41m 31s.