Qasr Al Sarab, UAE: Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and Dubai-based Sam Sunderland extended their leads in the car and motorcycle categories by claiming victories through the opening 276.59km selective section of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge powered by Nissan yesterday.
The stage started east of Arjan, south of Abu Dhabi, and finished north of the remote desert resort of Qasr Al Sarab. Dakar Rally winner Sunderland started last on the road, but claimed the win by just three seconds and holds an overnight advantage of just 5.7 seconds over the Chilean defending FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Champion Pablo Quintanilla, riding his Husqvarna.
“It was good to win the stage yesterday and have the choice of position, because this race is quite strategic. It was a heavy day, really tough, and we had to push a lot. To start last and finish first was not easy,” said an elated Sunderland, adding that the desert terrain was really unpredictable following the rain of the past few weeks.
“I lost the front (of the bike) in the sand, in the soft dunes, braking a few times. This caused a bit of stress. But the bike is working good. I will take each day as it comes. Obviously starting first tomorrow, I will lose time. But we will see,” revealed Sunderland.
Quintanilla also echoed the same sentiments as Sunderland saying: “It was a really difficult stage. I came from behind with Sam. I rode really fast and I was leading for a time. But it was a good stage. It was important to come back strongly from my crash on the Dakar and get my confidence again.”
Kuwait’s Mohammad Jaffar and Abu Dhabi’s Mohammad Al Balooshi reached the finish in eighth and ninth overall on their respective KTMs.
Al Attiyah cruised to the stage win in the cars and his Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux now leads the event by 11in 35.1sec from Abu Dhabi Racing’s Shaikh Khalid Al Qasimi.
“Today was not easy, but we had a good start position — sixth. We push very hard in the first 70km and pass everybody just to make the gap big. We don’t have any problems. Everything is working very well. Our Toyota is good. It was very hot. Inside the cabin it was 52 (degrees). We try and drink water and some energy liquid. Now we see for the next day,” said a delighted Al Attiyah.
Russian Vladimir Vasilyev finished third in his X-raid Mini All4 Racing, Czech Miroslav Zapletal was fourth and fellow countryman Martin Prokop produced an impressive performance in his Ford to claim the fifth fastest time. Italian Eugenio Amos was a surprise sixth in the unofficial standings.
Kuwaiti Fahad Al Musallam’s advantage in the quad section was short-lived and the Kuwaiti slipped out of the top five in the quad category behind Poland’s stage winning Kamil Wisniewski and Guatemala’s Rodolfo Schippers. Italy’s Camelia Liparoti produced a good performance to finish third.
Saudi Arabia’s Yasir Saeidan has unfinished business in the T2 category after missing out on last year’s title and he made a strong start to his Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge campaign and was the front-running T2 driver at the early passage control checks. Local driver Mansoor Al Helai’s plan to push hard in the T2 category suffered a severe setback when he ground to a halt before PC1.
Results Top 4: Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge — positions after Leg 1: Cars: 1. Nasser Al Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 3hr 16min 03.7sec; 2. Khalid Al Qasimi (ARE)/Khaled Al-Kendi (ARE) Peugeot 3008 DKR 3hr 27min 38.8sec; 3. Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS) Mini All4 Racing 3hr 31min 49.6sec; 4. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SLO) Hummer H3 Evo VII 3hr 42min 36.2sec
Bikes: 1. Sam Sunderland (GBR) KTM 450 Rally Factory 3hr 31min 09.5sec; 2. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI) Husqvarna 450 Rally 3hr 31min 15.2sec; 3. Matthias Walkner (AUT) KTM 450 Rally Factory 3hr 32min 16.6sec; 4. Paolo Gonçalves (PRT) Honda 450 CRF Rally 3hr 34min 19.8sec.
Quads: 1. Kamal Wisniewski (POL) Yamaha Raptor 700 R 4hr 45min 51.4sec; 2. Rodolfo Schippers (GUA) Yamaha Raptor 700 R 4hr 46min 45.9sec; 3. Khalifa Al Raeesi (ARE) Honda TRX 700 4hr 54min 31.8sec; 4. Camelia Liparoti (ITA) Yamaha Raptor 700 R 4hr 55 min 18.4 sec.
