CÓRDOBA (ARGENTINA): Overdrive Racing’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi and co-driver Timo Gottschalk became embroiled in a thrilling final stage battle with Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his co-driver Edouard Boulanger for overall honours at Argentina’s Desafío Ruta 40.
A mere one second separated the two crews after 70km of the final stage but the Saudi eventually prevailed by just 40 seconds after five gruelling gravel stages through the Córdoba, San Juan and La Rioja provinces of north and western Argentina to seal a stunning victory on the fourth round of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC).
That first W2RC win of the season for Al-Rajhi and Overdrive Racing and second place for the defending champion means that Al-Attiyah has a 25-point cushion over the Saudi before the final round in October. Toyota Gazoo Racing extends its advantage in the W2RC Manufacturers’ Championship.
Denis Krotov and Konstantin Zhiltsov brought the second of the Overdrive Racing Toyotas to the finish in Córdoba in fourth position.
Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleón started the opening stage in 28th after shedding a right-rear wheel near the start of the Prologue. The Brazilian surged through the field to clock the third quickest time on the first day and was then fastest overall in SS2 to consolidate third. But suspension issues on stage four cost him a potential podium finish but he climbed two positions on the final stage and reached the finish in fifth to hold third in the W2RC Drivers’ Championship.
American Seth Quintero teamed up with Dennis Zenz but got stuck in a ditch on stage one trying to overtake a rival and dropped 25 minutes. The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver then stopped twice with ongoing mechanical issues on stage four and slipped back to finish in 11th overall.
Juan Cruz Yacopini had finished on the podium on his home event in 2023 but the Argentine rolled his Toyota after 144km of stage two and then damaged his car still further after another accident on the fourth stage. Further examinations of the condition of the car’s roll cage confirmed that there was damage and FIA officials removed him and co-driver Daniel Oliveras from the start list for stage four on safety grounds.
Action commenced with a 16.25km Prologue stage that would not count towards the overall classification but would enable the leading drivers to choose their starting position for the opening selective section that was made up of two parts of 147.18km and 202.16km. The Prologue ran along a virtually identical track to the former WRC Rally of Argentina stage – El-Condor-Copina – and crews experienced foggy conditions across the famous eerie moonscapes in the hills.
Al-Attiyah clocked the quickest time to choose the most favourable starting position, while Al-Rajhi, Yacopini and Quintero came home in second, sixth and ninth. Krotov was down in 19th but Moraes incurred a maximum time penalty of 45 minutes and was at the rear of the FIA field in 28th after his Hilux shed the rear-right wheel near the start of the Prologue stage.
