A handful of seconds separated Ogier, Loeb, Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala and Norwegian Petter Solberg throughout the opening six stages on Thursday, where Mikko Hirvonen and Loeb were disadvantaged by running at the front of the field and acting as ‘road sweepers’.

“I slowed down in the middle of the final stage and I tried to make the other drivers push,” said Loeb. “I couldn’t do much tactics being second on the road so I tried to that. But Ogier still has a good lead.”  The new Citroën DS3 WRC was slightly quicker than the Ford Fiesta over the demanding gravel stages and the two DS3s will start the final day in front of third-placed Latvala in the Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team Fiesta S2000. Solberg holds fourth position and Hirvonen rounds off the top five.

Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah remained on course for a winning double by outclassing the opposition in both the Super 2000 (SWRC) and Middle East championship categories. The 10-placed Qatari comfortably led the SWRC class at the end of the day and had a massive lead over the UAE’s Rashid Al-Ketbi in the MERC category.

“All is going perfectly at the moment,” said Al-Attiyah. “I need to make up for the disappointment in Mexico and also take maximum points in Middle East.”   

Hirvonen led the way into the first Suwayma stage, but it was Loeb who set the early pace with a stunning time of 7m 01.0s on the high-speed special, despite running second on the road. He edged into a 1.8s advantage over Ogier, with Latvala and Petter Solberg in third and fourth places. Al-Attiyah surged into a 16s lead over Eyvind Brynildsen in the SWRC category.

Solberg was quickest through the twistier Kafrain stage where Ogier tied Loeb to the tenth of a second in the overall standings and the French duo held a 4.3s advantage over Latvala in the overall standings. Al-Attiyah was again in a class of his own in the SWRC section on a stage where Brynildsen retired after hitting a stone and sustaining suspension damage.

Ogier hit the front through the daunting 41km Jordan River stage, a fastest time netting him a 7.4s overall advantage over Loeb on a stage where Latvala also closed to within 2.4s of the third-placed defending World Champion. Petter Solberg survived a minor indiscretion to climb to second overall but brother Henning clouted a rock, damaged his Ford’s engine and retired.

Latvala set the fastest time in the fourth stage of the day where Ogier extended his advantage over Loeb to 7.7s. Solberg slipped back to fourth place, but there was bad luck for Norway’s Mads Ostberg who stopped near the stage start with a broken gearbox.

The Finn was again quickest in the re-run of Kefrain and closed the gap on leader Ogier to 6.4s. The Jordan River stage would be crucial in determining tactics for the second day, with Loeb only 13.5s adrift of the leader after acting as a road sweeper for much of the day.

Ogier set the fastest time in the stage and Loeb stopped for a handful of seconds for tactical reasons before making a couple of mistakes late on. The outcome was that Ogier will take a 31.6s lead into the final day, with Loeb in second and Latvala playing the tactics to perfection to hold third position.

Al-Attiyah was also the class of the field in the MERC category and cruised into a half minute lead over Rashid Al-Ketbi through the opening stage. Mazan Tantash and Sheikh Abdullah Al-Qassimi were the best of the rest through Suwayma. Al-Ketbi hit trouble in Kefrain and the Qatari extended his outright lead to 2m 09.4s.

Tantash, Al-Qassimi and Lebanon’s Michel Saleh completed the top five. Jordanian Ammar Hijazi, who was lying third in the regional series before the event, withdrew with power steering issues before the start.

Al-Attiyah extended his advantage over Al-Ketbi to 2m 51.8s in the grueling Jordan River special, but Tantash was crippled with mechanical woes and lost eight minutes on the stage. Al-Qassimi failed to start the Jordan River stage and Saleh stopped mid-way through the timed test. Nine of the original 12 starters completed the first loop of three stages.

Al-Attiyah beat Al-Ketbi by 35.1s in Suwayma 2 on a stage where Kuwait’s Essam Al-Nejadi retired. The Qatari was again quickest by 1m 32.4s in Kefrain and headed to the final stage of the day with a commanding 7m 08.7s advantage over the Emirati. Mufeed Mubarak, Meshal Al-Nejadi and Tantash completed the top five.