Al-Attiyah wins Rally Morocco, Hirvonen makes top five
Nasser Al-Attiyah eased to the finish line of the fifth and final day of Rally Morocco to emerge as the event winner, as Mikko Hirvonen completed the rally in fifth.
Photo by: X-Raid Team
After erstwhile leader Carlo Sainz's retirement on the penultimate stage handed him the lead, Al-Attiyah entered the final day 16 minutes up on nearest rival Yazeed Al-Rajhi.
The X-Raid Mini driver was up on Al-Rajhi's Toyota through every split to secure a comfortable win by a final margin of 16 minutes and 45 seconds.
The result also means Al-Attiyah is crowned FIA Cross Country Rally champion for a second time with a round to spare, with a 60 point buffer over last year's winner Vladimir Vasilyev.
Al-Rajhi was eighth quickest through the day and ended up yielding second place to fellow Toyota driver Vasilyev, who was third fastest behind Bernhard ten Brinke.
Giniel de Villers was the Day 5 pacesetter, but remained in fourth overall, while Hirvonen, who was 17 seconds behind Leeroy Poulter in the general classification after Day 4, managed to find 28 seconds on the South African to steal fifth.
X-Raid Mini duo Harry Hunt and ski jumping world champion Adam Malysz completed the rally top eight.
Nine-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb rounded out his cross-country rally debut for Peugeot with the 14th quickest time on the final day.
Overall classification after Day 5
| Pos. | Driver/Co-driver | Car | Time/Delay |
| 1 |
|
MINI | 14h18m18s |
| 2 |
|
Toyota | 16m45s |
| 3 |
|
Toyota | 17m14s |
| 4 |
|
Toyota | 19m22s |
| 5 |
|
MINI | 31m11s |
| 6 |
|
Toyota | 31m22s |
| 7 |
|
MINI | 1h00m14s |
| 8 |
|
MINI | 1h06m22s |
| 9 |
|
Toyota | 1h19m20s |
| 10 |
 Alexandr Moroz |
Hummer | 1h27m01s |
Nasser Al-Attiyah
Matthieu Baumel
Vladimir Vasilyev
Yazeed Al-Rajhi
Timo Gottschalk
Giniel de Villiers
Mikko Hirvonen
Harry Hunt
Adam Malysz
Bernhard ten Brinke
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