UAE Desert Challenge: Al Attiyah rules

Nasser Al Attiyah moved a step closer to his first UAE Desert Challenge title after putting in another flawless display of rally driving to win the 340km Nissan Special Stage Three yesterday.

It may not have been the fireworks seen from the Qatari's 2009 prototype BMW X3 on the first two days of the 2,197km six stage showdown in the desert, but it was still enough for Al Attiyah and Swedish co-driver Tina Thorner to maintain a comfortable gap ahead of their rivals.

Among bikes, Frenchman Cyril Despres and his main rival in the open class, Marc Coma have been locked in an intriguing tussle since the first day, but it was the former who took the honours yesterday.

Al Attiyah did not exactly enjoy a smooth sail through the dunes as he had to dig himself out of trouble during the last 30km of the stage. But such has been his dominance so far, that even the two minutes lost was hardly of any concern to him and Thorner.

Standing proudly beside his car after drenching his head with a bottle of water, he said: "It's a new car so it's always difficult. You learn something from every kilometre. I need to find the right speed for the next step which is the Dakar rally so that's what I'm trying to do each day."

No more slip-ups

However, Al Attiyah hasn't forgotten last year's edition where he was also in contention to win it till his car ran into problems.

"We learnt a lot of things from the car last year. This year, the car is doing well. Last year, I had no luck so hopefully this year, I can get the job done," he said.

Meanwhile, Yahya Al Helei and Khalid Al Kendi are doing a splendid job flying the UAE flag. The duo have jumped to second in the overall standings for cars and trucks after finishing 1hour 7minutes and 48 seconds behind Al Attiyah and Thorner.

"It was a nice stage but we had a major problem at 50km with the shock absorbers breaking. We travelled almost 300km without the shock absorbers so we had to keep our speed reduced. At one point we had to let a Kamaz truck go by. But I'm happy with our position," Al Helei said.

Top Threes

Cars

1. Nasser Al Attiyah/Tina Thorner (QA/S) BMW X3 T1 11:18:37; 2. Yahya Al Helei/Khalid Al Kendi (UAE/UAE) Nissan Patrol T2 14:10:27, 3. Vladimir Chagin/Sergey Savostin/Anatoly Tahin (RUS) Kamaz 4911 14:17:58

Bikes, Open

1. Cyril Despres (F) KTM Rally Replica/690 1:59:10; 2. Marc Coma (E) KTM Rally

Replica/690 11:59:14; 3. Francisco Lopez (RCH) KTM Rally Replica/690 12:07:50

Bikes, 450cc

1. Ruben Faria (P) Honda CRF 450 X/450 12:09:55; 2. David McBride (IRL) Honda CRF 450 X/450 12:51:11; 3. Sean Gaugain (ZAF) Honda CRF 450 X/450 13:07:01

Quads

1. Lionel Laine (F) KTM 525 XC ATV/525 15:05:14; 2. Eric Vergnes (F) Honda TRX 700 XX/700 15:14:33; 3. Mohammad Al Shamsi (UAE) Honda TRX 700 XX/700 15:54:40