2007 Cyprus Rally official preview
Al-Qassimi arrives in Limassol fresh from taking part in the Spanish round of the WRC with the BP-Ford Team, but he will find the performance of his Group N Subaru Impreza WRX STI a far cry from the handling and power of the Ford Focus WRC he used in Spain this weekend. The Abu Dhabi driver has taken victories in Oman and Jordan this season, while accidents have hampered main rival Al-Attiyah. The Qatari crashed in both of those events, but took victories in Qatar, on the Troodos event in Cyprus and in Syria.
Jordan's Amjad Farrah also holds a good chance of taking his first ever regional title. The former winner of the Jordan Rally is also taking part in the P-WRC this season and lies third in the Middle East series, a mere one point behind Al-Attiyah, having scored on all five rallies.
Other series regulars making the trip to the Mediterranean island include Qatar's Misfer Al-Marri (who tackled the Rally of New Zealand in place of an injured Al-Attiyah), Lebanon's Michel Saleh, Saudi Arabia's Yazeed Al-Rajihi and Austrian Andreas Wimmer.
Meanwhile, a strong team from Kuwait includes Mufeed Mubarak, Meshari Al-Thafiri, Ahmed Al-Kharess, Saleh Bin Eidan, Shaker Raies, Yousef Al-Thafiri and Essam Al-Nejadi. Jordanians Mazan Tantash and Faris Hijazi also make the trip to Cyprus for the first time.
No less than 31 Cypriot drivers featured on the unofficial entry list and several are more than capable of taking an outright victory. Andreas Tsouloftas is a regular competitor in the Middle East series and lies equal 11th in the points' standings after scoring three points on the Troodos Rally. He and co-driver Savvas Laos will be fired up to match the likes of Al-Attiyah and Al-Qassimi on narrow, winding gravel stages that he knows very well.
P-WRC competitor Spyros Pavlides will have the experienced Frenchman Denis Giraudet reading the pace notes, as he attempts to win his home event in a Subaru, while the likes of Andreas Peritikos, Nicolas Mandrides and Yiangos Yiangou also run well on Cyprus events and will be challenging for top honours.
Official proceedings get underway next Friday evening at 20.00hrs with the official start in Limassol. There will be a total of four special stages on Saturday, beginning with the Xyliatos test at 09.55hrs, and five on Sunday, culminating with the Panagia stage at 15.32hrs and the ceremonial finish at 17.50hrs.
In a total route of 878.72km, there will be 239.66km of competitive distance. The longest special will be the 32.42km of the Anadiou stage, which will run twice on Sunday. The shortest is the fifth 11.87km Kato Amaiantos special on Sunday morning.
The CAA has attracted support from the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO), Cytanet, Golden Telecom, Travelscope and Compusource for this important candidate event to mark the island's potential return to the WRC calendar in the near future.