Poland’s Jakub Przygonski beat Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah by 69 seconds to set the fastest time on the 314km second selective section of the Hail Cross-Country Rally on Thursday.
But the bonus point Al-Attiyah earned for second-fastest time, added to the 1.5 points for winning on Wednesday, took him closer to the FIA World Cup title in his fight with Toyota team-mate Lucio Alvarez. Al-Attiyah now leads the event by 7min 11sec, with his title rival sixth, 24min 28sec back.
I am quite happy. It was a good stage and we take good points yesterday and today. This is good towards the FIA World Cup. We opened all the way and it was not easy. But we lost only one minute. Tomorrow we start behind Kuba (Przygonski).
Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah
Przygonski and German navigator Timo Gottschalk closed to within three seconds of Denis Krotov’s second place, as the two X-raid Mini John Cooper Works Buggy drivers had another strong day in the An Nafud desert.
Fellow Mini Buggy driver Sebastien Halpern passed Vladimir Vasilyev’s BMW X5 for fourth, but delays dropped Spain’s Laia Sanz out of the top 10.
On Thursday afternoon, Yazeed Al-Rajhi’s Toyota was withdrawn. The Saudi had lost too much time with gearbox problems to fight for the win, and early retirement was chosen.
Martin Prokop continued testing the 2022-spec Ford Raptor Cross-Country, while Juan Cruz Yacopini and Ronan Chabot gained more time in the Overdrive Toyota Hilux T1+.
T4 and T3
Three T4 Can-Ams are now in the overall top 10. Poland’s Michal Goczal is a fine seventh and leads FIA T4 from brother Marek and Ukraine’s Ievgen Kovalevych in a third South Racing-built car. Australia’s Molly Taylor lost several minutes and slipped to fourth in T4, with Dubai-based Briton Thomas Bell fifth.
Saleh Al-Saif extended his T3 lead to 35min 17sec with another fastest time. Dania Akeel was unofficially second on the stage, but Mashael Al-Obaidan passed Germany’s Annett Fischer for second in the category. Uzbekistan’s Anvar Ergashev retired on Wednesday evening: he had felt pain 500 metres into the first stage and, although he finished it, was later found to have a fractured arm.
Bikes, quads, national and trucks
Othman Al-Ghfeli was fastest of the riders, 3min 22sec ahead of Mishal Al-Ghuneim, and now leads his rival by 13min 47sec. Italy’s Mauro Torrini was third on the stage and rose to fifth behind Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera and Ahmed Al-Jaber.
Abdulmajeed Al-Khulaifi kept an unofficial quad lead with a second stage win, ahead of Haitham Al-Tuwaijri and Hani Al-Noumesi, pending any penalties.
Saeed Al-Mouri unofficially won the National stage in his Can-Am, nine seconds ahead of fellow Saudi Al-Mashna Al-Shammeri, to lead overall, with Aliyyah Koloc third.
Japan’s Teruhito Sugawara (Hino) edged Frenchman Teo Calvet for the Truck stage win, but Calvet and Czech crew Josef Kalina and Tomas Sikola still lead in their Tatra.
Friday
The third selective section of 249km starts 229km from the bivouac, with passage controls at 77km, 172km and 232km, followed by a short 47km liaison back to the Hail bivouac.