“Mission accomplished so far,” said Al-Attiyah. “I pushed very hard on the very stage to get into a lead and I was able to control my pace from then on. I need to take maximum points. So far so good.”

Engine failure cost main rival Khaled Al-Qassimi his second place after three stages and it was left to Syria’s Haitham Al-Yousefi and Ahmad Hamsho to give chase midway through the day. The local duo held second and fourth, with Sharjah’s Sheikh Abdullah Al-Qassimi sandwiched between them in third overall. Hamsho was delayed late on and Al-Qassimi duly moved up to third spot.

Regional championship leader Misfer Al-Marri started slowly, but climbed to 10th at the day’s mid-point and starts Saturday’s remaining six stages in fourth overall and classified as the third registered MERC driver. Fellow Qatari Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari held fifth position at the end of day one and Ahmad Hamsho slipped to seventh.

Al-Attiyah laid down the gauntlet through the opening 23.85km MTN stage and surged into a massive 53.8s lead over Khaled Al-Qassimi. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari set the third fastest time, but the rest of the Group N field was unable to match the S2000 cars. Al-Marri dropped nearly four minutes to the leader and Khaled Al-Suwaidi found himself over eight minutes adrift in a dramatic start to the two-day rally.

Khaled Al-Qassimi steadied the ship through Maaloula and beat an easing Al-Attiyah by 3.6s, as Al-Yousefi surged into third overall from Abdullah Al-Qassimi. Lebanon’s Michel Saleh succumbed to gear stick problems and Al-Kuwari plummeted to the rear of the field with his own mechanical woes.Al-Attiyah won the third Jupiter stage and reached service at Deir Ateyah with a 54.6s lead. Al-Yousefi trailed Khaled Al-Qassimi, with Abdullah Al-Qassimi, Qatar’s Abdullah Al-Rabban and Kuwait’s Meshari Al-Thafiri completing the top six.

Series leader Al-Marri trailed in 13th position, Al-Suwaidi held 16, but the morning’s three stages further emphasised the chasm in performance between the leading two S2000 cars and the chasing pack in Group N Subarus and Mitsubishis.

Al-Attiyah was considerably slower the second time through the MTN stage, but he found himself in a lead of 5m 14.9s after the stage. Al-Qassimi had damaged his engine on the run into service and was sidelined, as Al-Marri set the second fastest time and Al-Yousefi inherited second overall.

Al-Marri was second fastest in both the MTN and Maaloula stages and climbed to seventh position, but Al-Attiyah’s lead had grown to 6m 09.2s when he arrived at the sixth timed test. The Qatari was fastest yet again and began the final stage of the day with a massive 6m 29.4s advantage over Al-Yousefi. Al-Kuwari climbed back to fourth overall and Al-Marri’s afternoon surge pushed him into sixth. Only two of the 19 starters had retired.

Al-Attiyah was quickest through the seventh and longest stage of the day, as the leading trio held station on the blustery return to the overnight halt in Sednaya.