Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Polish junior rider Konrad Dąbrowski extended their leads in the car and motorcycle categories after a gruelling second day of the Qatar International Baja on Friday.
Starting 10th on the road, Al-Attiyah and French co-driver Mathieu Baumel quickly passed their rivals to win stage two (122.73km). Their latest-specification Toyota GR DKR Hilux ran faultlessly, and the Qatari shadowed team-mate Yazeed Al-Rajhi to the end of the second FIA stage to stretch his overall lead to 3min 52.6sec.
It was a good run and we didn’t have any problems except for one flat tyre. For the second stage we didn’t really need to push because there were a lot of stones and we wanted to save everything for tomorrow. I am not surprised with the pace of Yazeed. Now we will try and do our best tomorrow.
Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah
Al-Rajhi and co-driver Michael Orr opened the road for much of the 124.86km second stage after passing Ahmed Al-Kuwari about 15km in, and were rewarded with the stage win and a comfortable second overall. Fellow Saudi Yasir Seaidan got lost several times in the third Toyota and is a distant third.
It was a good day for us. First stage we were unlucky. We have a puncture after the start, after 10km, and I catch Yasir (Seaidan) and I follow for around 70km with the dust and more dust. We lost together, me and Yasir, in one place because we took a different road and then we see Nasser and we followed him. But we lost some time. On the second stage we push and Michael did a great job. Qatar is very difficult navigation and we did it very well to win the stage. We are not too far away but we need to push a little bit tomorrow.
Yazeed Al-Rajhi
Dąbrowski stretches bike lead
Dąbrowski began the day 1min 57.2sec ahead and rode much of the FIM’s 247.59km second stage with Emirati Mohammed Al-Balooshi and Britain’s Maki Rees-Stavros. The trio stayed together up to the refuel, after which Rees-Stavros dropped back with a navigation error and the leading pair continued their duel.
Dąbrowski gradually pulled away to finish 1min 26.7sec ahead of the Emirati and now leads by 3min 23.9sec.
I am quite happy and surprised at the same time. At the beginning of the stage I had a crash in the mud. I was surprised by a pile of mud on the ground. It looked the same everywhere. I had a few issues on the way and had to repair. The GPS fell off and my handlebars were bent. I even had to scroll the road book with my hand. Many stories today but, at the end, I managed to pull away from the guys and win again. Stavros wanted to lead and then he made a navigation mistake. I went my own and pulled away from Al-Balooshi and then ended up with the win.
Konrad Dąbrowski
Very tough. Very difficult navigation. I caught Konrad at the beginning but I selected the wrong tyre set for Qatar. This was the only option available. When I caught Konrad, I stayed the first half of the stage together. For me, that was good enough to win. But we went behind the car tracks in the second half. There were a lot of tracks, he made a big gap and my tyres were worn out and I had no traction. Congratulations to him. Tomorrow, we will give it our all and see what we can do.
Mohammed Al-Balooshi
Kuwait’s Abdullah Al-Shatti and Jordan’s Abdullah Abu Aishah dropped out of contention, and Qatar’s over-450cc leader Abdulrahman Al-Sheeb and Dane Thomas Kongshøj completed the top five behind Rees-Stavros. Britain’s Robert Wallace, Qatar’s Sheikh Mohamed Al-Thani and Bahrain’s Salman Farhan are sixth, seventh and eighth.
Meeke leads T3, Sordo struggles
Andorra-based Ulsterman Kris Meeke suffered two flat tyres but praised co-driver François Cazalet for guiding him to fourth overall and the lead of the T3 class for lightweight prototypes.
Actually enjoyed it. We had two punctures on the first stage and had to stop and change and that left us no spare wheels for the second one, so we really had to take it easy. It was tricky but we had to manage it. Top marks to François, my co-driver, he was on the money, clear and precise. It’s really tricky here. We picked the right roads but his instructions were very clear. I was following five or six cars on the second one so the bike tracks were not a distraction. I really enjoyed the day.
Kris Meeke
Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah and Max Delfino were fifth overall and extended their T4 lead despite two punctures for the Baja leader’s brother. Seventh-placed veteran Sadoon Al-Kuwari is his nearest T4 rival after front suspension failure sidelined Camelia Liparoti’s Yamaha.
Dani Sordo’s desert debut in a Nasser Racing Can-Am was hampered by navigation problems. Initially sixth overall and second in T3, he had missed three consecutive masked waypoints (15 minutes each) and a standard waypoint, and 47 minutes of penalties dropped the Spaniard to 14th and eighth in T3.
We are back, a long way back, we had a lot of problems. I just drive and follow. I am sorry but we were lost a lot.
Dani Sordo
Ahmed Al-Kuwari opened the road in the morning and avoided major delays to hold sixth in his QMMF Team Can-Am, with team-mate Rashid Al-Muhannadi, Emirati Yasmeen Koloc and former FIA T2 World Champion Adel Abdulla completing the top 10 in their T3 cars.
Saudi Arabia’s Muneef Al-Shammeri (Nissan) leads T2 in 13th, Abdulmajeed Al-Khulaifi has a comfortable lead in the FIM quads, and Qatar’s Abdullah Al-Khelaifi is the only FIM SSV entrant.
Saudi Arabia’s Mishaal Al-Ghuneim won the stage and took the FIM National Baja lead from South Africa’s Jaco Anderson, with Emirati Mohammed Meerza third. Al-Mashna and Hani Al-Shammeri were fastest again in the FIA National Baja and lead by 11min 04.4sec.
Friday as it happened
A strong wind greeted competitors. The bikes tackled the longer 124.86km section west of Doha while the cars took the slightly shorter 122.73km stage. After a 20-minute neutralisation and refuel, the riders went straight into the second part, while the cars took a different route to SS3 and restarted after a regroup.
While the cars headed up the west coast, the bikes took a more southerly route through the western deserts east of Dukhan. Ahmed Al-Kuwari opened the road ahead of Ahmad Al-Muhannadi and Adel Abdulla, with Sordo, Al-Rajhi, Meeke and Al-Attiyah sixth, eighth, ninth and 10th on the road. The bikes started in Qualifying Stage order, Dąbrowski leading Al-Balooshi and Rees-Stavros.
Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah and Abdulla lost time early with navigation errors as the overnight leader closed on the group of Can-Ams ahead. The leading three bikes rode together and dropped Al-Shatti and Abu Aishah, who were also riding together.
Al-Attiyah passed everyone except Al-Kuwari, was repassed by Al-Rajhi when he stopped briefly with a puncture, but still won the stage by 5min 14.8sec to lead by 5min 19.1sec. Meeke lost a little time mid-stage with a puncture but recovered to fourth behind Seaidan, beating Sordo by 5min 06sec to lead T3 by 5min 13.8sec going into SS3.
Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah won the T4 stage, but Liparoti stopped with broken front-left suspension on the west coast near the beach at Dohat al Usanaid.
I didn’t have an accident. The car felt out of control and then we stopped.
Camelia Liparoti
Dąbrowski, Al-Balooshi and Rees-Stavros rode together to the end of the first part and through the neutralisation and refuel before continuing on the track the cars had used in the morning.
Al-Rajhi and Al-Attiyah quickly passed Ahmed Al-Kuwari to open the road on the third FIA stage and caught the back-markers in the FIM National Baja, while Seaidan lost more time searching for the right track.
Dąbrowski and Al-Balooshi dropped Rees-Stavros after his navigation error. The Pole also edged clear of the Emirati but had to stop briefly, allowing the defending champion to catch him again.
Despite opening the road, Al-Rajhi and Orr took the stage win from Al-Attiyah and cut his lead to 3min 52.6sec, while Dąbrowski held off Al-Balooshi to extend his advantage.
Saturday
Strong winds are forecast for the final day, and officials hope they will not restrict the safety helicopters. Both FIM and FIA competitors are due to tackle a 200.39km stage towards the south of Qatar, followed by a 93.43km liaison back to the podium at Lusail. The first bike is due on stage at 08.15hrs and the first car at 10.55hrs.