Poland’s Jakub Przygonski, Dubai-based Briton Sam Sunderland and Peru’s Alexis Hernandez won the second competitive stage of the Qatar Cross-Country Rally to lead the car, motorcycle and quad categories.
The 334.08km stage ran from Rawdat Rashed to a finish near the Sealine resort, south of Doha, in a fierce hot desert wind. Navigation caught out many crews, and Abu Dhabi Racing’s Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi lost vital minutes before the second passage control. Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah suffered power steering and gearbox problems but was lucky to lose so little time.
Cars
Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi capitalised and looked set to win the stage in his new Mini John Cooper Works Rally, but Polish team-mate Przygonski pipped him at the finish.
It was a nice stage for us and Tom (Colsoul) made good navigation. The stage was tough with a lot of off-piste and we did it and we are really happy. For us, we need to learn more and more to be fast in the future, so opening the road now is okay. This will be good training for us.
Jakub Przygonski
It was a good start, but we had some problems with overheating of the car. We cut the engine and we lost time. We had one small mistake with the navigation, but second place is good for me and we have a good starting position for tomorrow.
Yazeed Al-Rajhi
Overdrive Racing’s Erik van Loon and Toyota GAZOO’s Leeroy Poulter spoiled a potential X-raid Mini 1-2-3 with third and fourth, pushing Qatar’s Mohammed Abu Issa, delayed by a costly puncture, to fifth in the third Mini. Al-Attiyah and Al-Qassimi are sixth and seventh.
I was really worried because I still have a pain. The steering rack has completely stopped. It was really difficult to make 190km without power steering. And then the gearbox lever was broken. Matthieu (Baumel) try to change himself, but it took time and we were stuck in third gear to the finish. But I am surprise to lose so little time.
Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah, still recovering from his Abu Dhabi crash
My main problem was I lost a lot of time because I lost the track, maybe between four and five minutes in one place. At the end I had a slow puncture, but it was good on the sandy sections because I am used to this. The Peugeot is too big for the lines on the rocky stages. I am always outside the line on these stages.
Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi
Bikes and quads
Red Bull KTM Factory Team’s Sunderland used his favourable start position and the confidence from two big wins already this season to catch the riders ahead. He leads Monster Energy Honda Team’s Paulo Gonçalves by 9min 32.9sec, though his start position for Thursday should help rivals close the gap.
Honda’s Kevin Benavides is third despite fuel pump problems on the road section, with Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Pablo Quintanilla fourth. Overnight leader Antoine Meo lost around 26 minutes with navigation errors before PC1 and dropped to seventh, while Ride to Abu Dhabi’s Mohammed Al-Balooshi is ninth.
Obviously it’s always hard to have the first day in Qatar and to adjust the brain to start to think about a lot of navigation, especially after Abu Dhabi, where it is all open GPS. I pushed all day and managed to pass all the guys. We are here and safe and the bike was awesome. It was heavy for the hands. They are pretty destroyed after all the stones. It was a tough day. We will have to see how we go with the strategy.
Sam Sunderland
I start the rally well. It was a really tough stage with difficult navigation and also some dangerous tracks. At the beginning I tried to keep my speed more or less safe but, after the refuelling, I start to go a little faster. I am happy to arrive with the second overall. The bike is okay. We have more than 1000kms still to go, so we don’t do any calculations. I take each day as it comes.
Paulo Gonçalves
Hernandez also misread early instructions but recovered to set the fastest quad time and stretch his lead to 6min 12.1sec over Poland’s Rafal Sonik, with Dutchman Kees Koolen third. Argentina’s Lucas Innocente, badly delayed on the opening stage, failed to complete Wednesday’s route and took heavy penalties. Saudi Arabia’s Abdulmajeed Al-Khulaifi won the shorter non-FIM quad section, which finished at PC2, from Sultan Al-Masood.
T2 and National Baja
Qatar’s Adel Abdulla broke a front suspension arm on the way to the fastest T2 time on the opening stage, but was in excellent form on the first desert section and reached Losail 50.6 seconds ahead in the support category for series-production vehicles. Abu Dhabi Racing’s Mansour Al-Helai is second and series leader Yasir Saeidan third.
Local Chevrolet Buggy driver Mohammed Al-Mannai won the day’s stage in the Qatar National Baja and leads by 7min 09.2sec from Mohammed Al-Meer, with Saudi Arabia’s Ahmed Al-Shegawi third.
How Wednesday unfolded
Super special winner Antoine Meo chose to start 15th, with Walkner 14th and Sunderland 13th, so the three factory KTMs could work together. Saudi quad rider Al-Khulaifi had the unenviable job of opening the road, with Al-Balooshi the first leading bike in fifth. The top 15 started at three-minute intervals, but South African quad rider Martin Beyers did not start after his somersault in Tuesday’s water splash, and Qatar’s Ahmed Al-Kuwari was also out.
In the cars, Czech Miroslav Zapletal opened the road, with Poulter and Al-Rajhi two and four minutes behind, Al-Qassimi fourth and overnight leader Al-Attiyah 10th. An overnight road closure delayed the start by around an hour.
Quad leader Hernandez went astray early, while Sunderland led at PC1 from Quintanilla and Renet. Walkner dropped several minutes to his team-mate, and Meo lost 26 minutes. Al-Attiyah edged ahead of Al-Rajhi and Abu Issa in the cars. Thomas Bell could not start after technical problems with his Range Rover 5 Bowler, and Yerden Shagirov, who had reported gearbox problems on Tuesday, retired.
Al-Rajhi cut Al-Attiyah’s lead to 39 seconds at the second checkpoint, but the Qatari lost 10 minutes to the next control with power steering trouble, and Al-Rajhi held on for the second-fastest time behind Przygonski.
Thursday
The 353.02km third stage starts near the former Sealine bivouac and heads south towards the Inland Sea before turning west and up Qatar’s west coast, with refuelling at PC2 in Al-Galayel and the finish at Mekaines on the Salwa Road.