Nasser Al Attiyah’s WRC 2 victory at Rally Australia last month has now made the Qatari driver favourite to lift the 2014 championship.
Understanding the positions in the series, in which drivers count their six best scores from seven rounds, has become somewhat clearer following Rally Australia.
The Ford Fiesta RRC driver is fourth, nine points behind leader Lorenzo Bertelli. However, he is the best-placed of the drivers in realistic contention, with two rounds still to tackle.
Karl Kruuda also has two rallies remaining but the Estonian is 11 points behind Al Attiyah.
“It was my first time in Australia and during the recce it looked to be a difficult rally.
“But we started well and found good pace. We were careful not to do any mistakes because if we had stopped in that race it would be game over in the championship,” he later said.
Al Attiyah’s final two rounds are in Spain and Britain, both events he knows well.
“We have good experience in Spain, we have been there two or three times, and I love the GB rally. We must be clever in Spain and finish in the top three. This will help our work in the championship,” he added.