LUSAIL, QATAR – Denis Krotov and the dominant Polish rider Konrad Dabrowski took the outright car and motorcycle leads after Friday’s opening 220.31km stage of the Qatar International Baja, through the northern and far western deserts of the country. Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mohammed Al-Marri lead the Challenger and SSV classes.
Penalties cost Prokop
A time penalty had cost Martin Prokop and navigator Viktor Chytka the fastest time in Thursday’s Prologue, but the Czech pair used their start position to win the car stage in the latest Ford Raptor they will race at the Dakar Rally in January.
Lightning struck twice, however: the former WRC driver picked up a further 2min 21sec for a jump start and another minute for failing to stop in a neutralisation. That handed the lead to X-raid Mini JCW Team pair Krotov and navigator Konstantin Zhiltsov. Last year’s Qatar winners held a virtual lead through the early kilometres and lead overnight by 2min 42.4sec.
FIA World Baja Cup leader Juan Cruz Yacopini and Spanish navigator Dani Oliveras were third in their Toyota Hilux, and Dania Akeel boosted her FIA Middle East Baja title hopes with fourth in her Toyota.
We made a pretty nice stage. Dani did a good job. I think we can push a little bit more if we feel more comfortable with the rear of the car.
Juan Cruz Yacopini
Challenger, SSV and Stock
Despite losing time near the start, Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah pushed hard to climb to fifth and lead the Challenger category from the QMMF Team’s Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari in sixth. Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah, 10th, lost around 13 minutes with a puncture and suspension problems.
It was a good day for us. We were the fastest of the Challenger Middle East and second behind Nasser. We saw Khalifa (Al-Attiyah) stop in the stage. We were behind him and he’s my rival in the championship. Not easy for navigation but we achieved the mission today.
Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari
France’s Ronan Chabot was a strong seventh in the second Overdrive car, and Akeel’s regional rival Miroslav Zapletal was eighth in his Ford F-150 Evo. Despite penalties, the UAE’s Khalid Al-Jafla held 15th and stayed more than a minute ahead of main rival Sergei Remennik in the FIA World Cup Baja Challenger fight.
Young Qatari Mohammed Al-Marri led SSV by less than half a minute from runaway FIA World Baja Cup class leader Mitchel van den Brink, with Mattias Ekström, Mohammed Al-Attiyah and Paul Severn close behind. Oman’s Hamed Al-Wahaibi retired his Can-Am after three flat tyres. In Stock, Qatar’s Abdullah Al-Rabban leads Saudi rival Majed Al-Thunayyan by more than 22 minutes in his Nissan Patrol.
Dabrowski dominates the bikes
Dabrowski was in a class of his own. Starting 10th on the road, the KTM rider passed everyone and finished 20min 13.6sec ahead of Germany’s Philip Horlemann. British Husqvarna rider Alex McInnes rose to second overall, with Horlemann third.
Like, 17km to the finish I did 15km too much. Apart from that I had a really smooth ride. Ten kilometres after the start, I think a rock hit my rear brake. It damaged the screw and I didn’t have the rear brake for the whole stage. It was eventful but I am happy with my performance.
Konrad Dabrowski
Navigation was different to previous years. They didn’t put too many entrance caps. There were only exit caps. That made it difficult if you didn’t choose the right road you were lost. Now I need to stay good on the navigation. If I don’t make any mistakes, I am too far ahead for anyone to reach me. I need to stay good on the navigation.
Konrad Dabrowski
MX Ride Dubai’s Mohammed Al-Balooshi was fourth, with Makis Rees-Stavros and Robbie Wallace completing the top six.
It was really difficult navigation. I had some problems with the GPS. It was not secure and fell four times before the refuel, so I kept stopping to put it back and it fell off again. After the refuel, I was running second for a bit and then made a big mistake with the navigation and got lost big time. The guys behind were able to catch us when we found the route. They didn’t get lost.
Mohammed Al-Balooshi
A broken brake caliper late on dropped Australia’s Andrew Houlihan to 14th. Al-Balooshi’s closest FIM title rival, Lebanon’s Rafic Eid, battled navigation and rocks all day and is 15th. In quads, the UAE’s Abdulaziz Al-Ahli pulled clear of Saudi Hani Al-Noumesi to lead by around 28 minutes; Qatar’s Yaghoob Azadi and Abdulaziz Al-Atawi did not finish the route.
How Friday unfolded
Harith Noah, Rafic Eid and Simon Marcic opened the road for the bikes, with Al-Balooshi and fellow two-time champion Dabrowski eighth and 10th on the road. In the FIA field, Nasser Al-Attiyah opened ahead of Prokop, Lionel Baud, Krotov and Eugenio Amos, while Prologue winner Al-Kuwari started 12th. The stage began in the north and headed down the northwest and western coastline through varied desert terrain.
Dabrowski led the bikes through the early sections, with Al-Balooshi his closest chaser after Robert Wallace faded from a strong start. Ehab Al-Hakeem had injector problems after two kilometres and Sultan Al-Shanqiti lost a lot of time. Dabrowski passed Noah before the 90.69km checkpoint, rode with a small group for a while, then pulled clear to win and extend his overall lead to 21min 20sec. Ireland’s Oran O’Kelly retired with a broken wheel and Slawomir Sypien with shoulder pain.
Prokop passed Al-Attiyah, who stopped for around four minutes, before the first checkpoint at 31.08km. Krotov set the early pace from Prokop and Zapletal, but Prokop took the virtual lead by 90.69km, where Yacopini and Al-Kuwari had already passed Zapletal and Akeel had climbed to fifth; Ekström led the SSVs from van den Brink. Navigation errors hit several crews late on, but Prokop held on to win the stage from Krotov, Yacopini, Akeel and Al-Attiyah – before his penalties dropped him to second behind the Mini.
Saturday’s 234.19km second stage is split into five timed sections and crosses some of southern Qatar’s most spectacular terrain, including stunning dunes near the Inland Sea.
Cars after SS1 (unofficial)
- Denis Krotov / Konstantin Zhiltsov (Mini John Cooper Works Rally 3.0i) – 2hr 07min 43.1sec
- Martin Prokop / Viktor Chytka (Ford Raptor) – 2hr 10min 25.5sec
- Juan Cruz Yacopini / Dani Oliveras (Toyota Hilux IMT Evo) – 2hr 10min 31.6sec
- Dania Akeel / Sébastien Delaunay (Toyota Hilux) – 2hr 16min 18.7sec
- Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah / Fabian Lurquin (Taurus T3 Max) – 2hr 16min 21.1sec
- Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari / Stéphane Duplé (Taurus T3 Max) – 2hr 17min 43.1sec
- Ronan Chabot / Xavier Panseri (Toyota Hilux) – 2hr 24min 32.8sec
- Miroslav Zapletal / Marek Sykora (Ford F-150 Evo) – 2hr 26min 30.9sec
- Francisco Barreto / Paulo Fiuza (Taurus T3 Max) – 2hr 29min 01.6sec
- Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah / Bruno Jacomy (Taurus T3 Max) – 2hr 29min 29.0sec
Bikes after SS1 (unofficial)
- Konrad Dabrowski (KTM 450 Rally) – 3hr 13min 36.7sec
- Alex McInnes (Husqvarna Rally Replica) – 3hr 34min 56.7sec
- Philip Horlemann (KTM Rally Replica 450) – 3hr 35min 37.6sec
- Mohammed Al-Balooshi (KTM 450 RR) – 3hr 39min 42.1sec
- Makis Rees-Stavros (KTM EXC 450) – 3hr 39min 44.3sec
- Robbie Wallace (Honda CRF 450R) – 3hr 42min 08.4sec