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Al-Attiyah gracious in ERC defeat

Nasser Al-Attiyah was gracious in defeat after a final-stage puncture cost him a shot at claiming a record-extending sixth Cyprus Rally victory.

Al-Attiyah, from Qatar, started the closing test of the FIA European Rally Championship counter 2.3s in front of home hero Simos Galatariotis following a stunning recovery drive from a double puncture on Saturday, but slipped to fourth when he was forced to change the damaged tyre on his Autotek Motorsport Ford Fiesta R5.

"We make a good time previous stage but for the last seven kilometres we have a slow puncture," Al-Attiyah explained. "We decide to continue but we need to stop because everything would break. "Okay, this is the game and we did our best. It was a good battle this weekend."

Zdroj: fiaerc.com