ERC midday round-up: Al-Attiyah on top in Cyprus

The Qatari, driving an Autotek Motorsport-run Ford Fiesta R5, completed this morning's loop of stages with the fastest time through CNP ASFALISTIKI Super Special Stage in Nicosia, edging Nikolay Gryazin by 1.3s to lead Kajetan Kajetanowicz (LOTOS Rally Team Fiesta) by 16.7s.

Gryazin, who lost his lead with two offs on stage three, is third overall 19.1s off top spot in his Sports Racing Technologies ŠKODA Fabia R5.

Alexandros Tsouloftas completed stage four with his Citroën DS3 R5 stuck in second gear after the shifter mechanism broke. The Cypriot champion elect remains fourth overall, once place ahead of Bruno Magalhães, who is still battling back from losing time in heavy dust on stage one while following Murat Bostanci, who had stopped to change a puncture.

Stage four also proved to be a tough one for Bostanci, who damaged the rear-left corner of his Castrol Ford Team Turkey Fiesta following contact. "It was not a big impact, just a small touch," he said. "At least we have service now."

Cypriot Charalambos Timotheou is sixth on his debut in a Motorsport Italia-run ŠKODA Fabia R5. Christos Demosthenous leads ERC2 with Umitcan Ozdemir on top in ERC3 after Bugra Banaz went off the road on stage three.

Following the 30-minute service halt in Nicosia, stage five, the repeat of Kalo Chorio, gets underway at 13h15 local time. Today’s action concludes with the return to the CNP ASFALISTIKI Super Special Stage in Nicosia from 16h59.