Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah started second on the road, passed Poland’s Jakub Przygonski and won the 249km third selective section of the Hail Cross-Country Rally on Friday.
Provided his Toyota Hilux passes post-event scrutineering, the Qatari has already done enough to clinch a fifth FIA World Cup title. He and co-driver Matthieu Baumel beat stage runner-up Vladimir Vasilyev by 3min 57sec and take an 18min 18sec lead over Russia’s Denis Krotov into the final day.
A good day for us and another stage win under our belts. Now we need to bring the car safely to the finish tomorrow.
Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah
Przygonski had been fighting Krotov for second, but a broken drive shaft left him 39min 26sec behind Al-Attiyah on the stage and dropped the Mini John Cooper Works Buggy driver to sixth.
It was so fast. The dunes were not so difficult. We tried to cross with more pressure in the tyres. It was good, only we stopped after km20 to help our friends (Przygonski) in a Buggy. We gave them a drive shaft and we lost maybe six or seven minutes. Now we need to finish this race, say goodbye to the World Cup and prepare for Dakar.
Konstantin Zhiltsov, Krotov’s co-driver
Argentines Sebastien Halpern and Lucio Alvarez were third and fourth fastest and are now fourth and fifth overall. Spain’s Laia Sanz recovered from day-two delays to climb to 10th.
T4 and T3
Several T3 and T4 crews received time penalties before the restart, but Poles Michal and Marek Goczal gained time back after officials re-examined their routes through Wednesday’s first stage. Ukraine’s Ievgen Kovalevych, who rolled in the dunes on Thursday, fell to the bottom of the T4 order after penalties.
Gearbox trouble then cost Michal Goczal the T4 lead, and brother Marek set the fastest time to move 25min 37sec ahead of Australia’s Molly Taylor. Thomas Bell climbed to third and Kovalevych bounced back with third-fastest time.
Saleh Al-Saif again dominated T3, stretching his lead over Mashael Al-Obaidan to 44min 37sec with another stage win. Al-Obaidan pulled 42 seconds further clear of Germany’s Annett Fischer in the fight for second. Dania Akeel held fourth after navigation trouble, Esraa Aldkheil recovered from Thursday’s roll to finish fifth, and Pavel Lebedev again sat out the stage.
It was fun today. We had a couple of navigation issues and went from second to fourth and back to second and then to fourth again. I kept it steady and safe but I was faster than fourth. I am a little disappointed. In cross-country so many other things matter.
Dania Akeel
Bikes, quads, national and trucks
Abdullah Lanjawi won the motorcycle stage, but Othman Al-Ghfeli’s seventh place was enough to keep an 11min 21sec lead over Mishal Al-Ghuneim going into the final day. Ahmed Al-Jaber rose to third, and Yasir Al-Khuraif pushed Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera and Italy’s Mauro Torrini down to fifth and sixth.
Abdulmajeed Al-Khulaifi extended his quad lead to 66min 02sec with a comfortable stage win over Haitham Al-Tuwaijri and Hani Al-Noumesi, who held second and third.
Al-Mashna Al-Shammeri set the unofficial fastest National time from Aliyyah Koloc and took the lead when Saeed Al-Mouri lost 14 minutes and fell to fifth. Two-time Hail International Rally winner Essa Al-Dossary was third on the day in his Nissan Navara.
Japan’s Teruhito Sugawara (Hino) won his second Truck stage from Saudi Arabia’s Ibrahim Al-Muhanna, while overnight leader Teo Calvet had technical problems at the start.
Saturday
The final stage is the last competitive cross-country special of 2021. After a 56km run-out, the 148km stage has passage controls at 65km, 82km, 87km, 129km and 142km, followed by a 132km road section back to Parc Fermé in Hail.