The Rally of Lebanon title continues to be jinxed for Qatari ace Nasser bin Saleh al Attiyah.
The overnight leader and co-driver Matthieu Baumel went off the road in the 21.40-km Super Stage 6 in Ain Aaya on the full-fledged first day of action which forced them to retire.
Facing an intense pressure from 12 times champion Roger Feghali and Abdo Feghali, who dominated the day with the former being quickest on four stages, Attiyah attempted to up the ante but paid price in losing the control of his Ford Fiesta R5.
The 12-time MERC winner was running third overall at that juncture, 21 seconds behind the leader Roger and 5 seconds behind second-placed Abdo, who lost a significant amount of time after temporarily stopping on stage due to a tyre puncture.
Roger Feghali successfully completed the day with an encouraging lead of over three minutes against second placed Abdo, who also claimed two stages today.
Attiyah has been runner-up twice in the rally but has not able to dent the domination by the local drivers, especially Roger Feghali, who has won the title a dozen times.
