DOHA (Qatar): Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah edged into a lead of 2min 50sec over Carlos Sainz after the opening 251.81km Radifah selective section of Hail Baja 1, round four of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas on Friday.
The two triple Dakar winners were the quickest duo through the latter sections of the stage with the Toyota Hilux driver snatching the stage win from his Mini Buggy rival.
Al Attiyah won the title in 2009 with a BMW X3CC and also in 2011 with a Volkswagen Race Touareg.
Sainz’s team-mate and Dakar legend Stéphane Peterhansel rounded off the podium places after an early puncture, the Frenchman pushing local star Yazeed Al-Rajhi down to fourth place in the second of the Toyotas.
Al Attiyah said: “It was a very good day for us and we start in a good position behind Carlos and we were fighting with Carlos. Last 40km we are together and he touch us two times….we were together all the way. I am happy to win the stage.”
Sainz added: “The stage was good and it was coming fast. Nasser catch us and we follow him all the stage.”
Peterhansel reflected: “It was good but, at the beginning of the stage after 10km, we get a puncture. So we stopped three minutes for that. After I stay with Nasser and Carlos and we finish all together. We changed some settings on the car, so this is a good opportunity to do some tests as well.”
“We have two problems. We had low pressure in the tyres and a sensor was flashing on the stage,” said Al-Rajhi. “We will see how it is tomorrow and try and push a little bit.”
Only 28 of the original 54 cars on the entry list were eligible to start the FIA event. Several, including Camelia Liparoti and 2020 Hail International Rally winner Saleh Al-Abdelali, were put into the National Rally that got underway with 44 competitors. Technical issues meant that Czech driver Martin Prokop was not able to take the start in his Ford Raptor RS Cross-Country.
The day’s competitive section wound its way through the An Nafud desert to the north-west of Hail with the bikes able to refuel close to the passage control after 165.77km.
Al-Attiyah, Seaidan and Sainz were the FIA event pace-setters through 66km. Russian Vladimir Vasilyev overtook FIA Baja title rival Bernhard Ten Brinke early in the stage, while Poland’s Jakub Przygonski dropped 12 minutes to the leaders and fell further behind as the stage progressed. Al-Attiyah, Sainz and Al-Rajhi headed their rivals after 108km and 165km.
Overdrive Racing’s team manager Jean-Marc Fortin explained the fuel issue that caused the delays for both Przygonski and Ten Brinke, with the former dropping 1hr 23min to the stage winner. “Around 80km, Kuba (Przygonski) got a problem with the car. We have a problem with the quality of fuel in the region. It is difficult to find a good set-up of engine management. Then we resolved the problem.”
Al-Attiyah, Sainz, Peterhansel and Al-Rajhi reached the finish in the top four places, with Vasilyev taking fifth, Ten Brinke sixth after a late slow puncture and Denis Krotov finishing eighth after reported broken suspension delays for local driver Yasir Seaidan cost him a good finish.
Saudi drier Khalid Al-Jafla rounded off the top 10 in his Toyota, with Miroslav Zapletal (Ford) and Erik van Loon (Toyota) rounding off the dusty leading dozen. Saudi driver Al-Mashna Al-Shammeri (Nissan) was the unofficial winner of the stage in the National Rally.
Nineteen bikes and 18 quads eventually made it to the start. Yamaha’s official factory rider Adrien van Beveren cruised into a comfortable lead in the motorcycle category on his WRF 450. He pulled away from the start and was 9min 08sec in front of Poland’s Konrad Dabrowski after 66km and 19min 19sec in front at the refuelling.
