The Victory Team's Khalifa Al Mutaiwe' e and French co-driver Alain Guehennec moved up to the seventh position in the Rally d'Orient Cappadoce – the fifth round of the 2004 Cross-Country Rallies World Cup – after the third selective loop section, in and out of the town of Urgup yesterday.

They began the stage in 10th overall, but set the third fastest time behind the overall rally leader Bruno Saby and the experienced Belgian driver Gregoire de Mevius.

Al Mutaiwe' e duly moved up the leaderboard into a points-scoring position and trailed Saby, the 1993 winner of the Dakar Rally, by under 30 minutes at the start of Tuesday's fourth and longest selective of the rally across arid plains, through agricultural terrain, via the Illara gorge, the Great Salt Lake and past the scenic crater of a giant volcano.

"It was a good day for me after the delays on the first long selective," said Al Mutaiwe' e at the wheel of a diesel-engined BMW X5 Rallye-Raid, built at Trebur-Astheim in Germany.

"I managed to gain back some of the time I had lost on the likes of Jean-Louis Schlesser, Phillipe Gache and Jutta Kleinschmidt. Now I need more of the same. It is vital that I make up as much ground as possible over the closing stages, because I need the points."

Saby managed to set his second successive fastest time in the new Volkswagen Touareg on the Urgup loop section between Ciftlick and Kurukopru, but De Mevius was always on his tail in a Team Dessoude Nissan Pick-Up and duly moved up to second overall in the classification.

Saby's VW teammate Jutta Kleinschmidt set the sixth fastest time after being unable to overtake on the narrow tracks amidst the dust of a slower car.

Former World Champion and multiple Dakar Rally winner Jean-Louis Schlesser was fourth through the stage and holds the final podium place in his two-wheel drive Buggy, with fellow Frenchman Phillipe Gache in fourth position.

French veteran Dominique Housieaux continues to hold the sixth overall spot in a Ralliart-prepared Mitsubishi Pajero, albeit 3 minutes 18 seconds ahead of Al Mutaiwe' e.

The selective is supposed to be the third and final section to loop around the town of Urgup, with 328 competitive kilometres on offer in a testing route of 573 km. The event will conclude in the bustling coastal city of Antalya on Saturday.

Standings
Positions after SS3: 1. Bruno Saby (F)/Michel Perin (F) Volkswagen Touareg 7h, 34m, 39s; 2. Gregoire de Mevius (B)/Jacky Dubois (B) Nissan Pick-Up 7:44.52; 3. Jean-Louis Schlesser (F)/Francois Borsotto (F) Schlesser-Buggy 7:44.53; 4. Phillipe Gache (F)/Jean-Pierre Garcin (F) SMG Buggy 7:46.18; 5. Jutta Kleinschmidt (D)/Fabrizia Pons (I) Volkswagen Touareg 7:47.28; 6. Dominique Housieaux (F)/Loic Fagot (F) Mitsubishi Pajero 8:00.28; 7. Khalifa Al Mutaiwee (UAE)/Alain Guehennec (F) BMW X5 8:03.46.

Positions on Ciftlick to Kurukopru stage (top 4): 1. Bruno Saby (F)/Michel Perin (F) Volkswagen Touareg 4h, 19m, 15s; 2. Gregoire de Mevius (B)/Jacky Dubois (B) Nissan Pick-Up 4:26.09; 3. Khalifa Al Mutaiwee (UAE)/Alain Guehennec (F) BMW X5 4:27.06; 4. Jean-Louis Schlesser (F)/Francois Borsotto (F) Schlesser-Buggy 4:28.15.