Theater coup in the third stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. the qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah He had a good chance to take the lead in the W2RC World Championship after the competition leader Sebastien Loeb -two points between them- suffered a retirement in the first stage and although he is still in the competition he carries a good penalty. But even though the Toyota Gazoo Racing driver won the third special of the ADDC, he suffered a big rollover that damaged the anti-roll bars and when he reached the finish line he failed the FIA inspection and was forced to retire from competition.
Despite crashing with 10 kilometers to go, Al Atiyah managed to cross the finish line 48” ahead of Frenchman Loeb before returning to the bivouac. After examining his Hilux, the FIA technicians judged that the car would not be able to start the 4th stage, due to the state of the anti-roll bars.
Nasser al-Attiyah he is left with 85 points in the World Championship, while Sébastien Loeb can continue to score points, maintain the lead and increase his lead at the end of the race if he finishes it. Adding that with the previous abandonment of Guerlain Chicherit, 3rd in the championship, the Frenchman was freed from his rivals thanks to the advantage achieved in Dakar.
Yazeed Al Rajhi became the new head of ADDC. The Saudi has an advantage of almost 10 minutes over Martin Prokop and double over Denis Krotov.
In T3, Mattias Ekstrom He won until his engine broke at kilometer 66. Mitch Guthrie finally prevailed against Cristina Gutiérrez in comeback mode and Seth Quintero. The American remains first in the overall standings ahead of his Red Bull Off-Road Jr Team USA teammate Austin Jones at 27’06”.
In T4, Rokas Baciuska (Red Bull Can-Am Factory) once again won his battle against Pau Navarro (FN Speed) by almost 9 minutes. The Lithuanian has a margin of more than 18 minutes over the Catalan in the general classification.
In motorcycles, Honda’s price and control wins
Pablo Quintanilla (Monster Energy Honda) once again set the fastest time in a stage. The Chilean was fastest on the day before being handed a 2-minute speeding penalty, dropping him to 2nd, 17” behind Toby Price (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). Skyler Howes (Husqvarna Factory Racing) finished 3rd, 19″ behind the Australian.
Fifth in the special at 1’03”, Adrien Van Beveren remains at the top of the general classification with a 43” advantage over his teammate Quintanilla. Price returned to the podium 2’56” behind the Frenchman. Nacho Cornejo, who was one second off the podium yesterday, is now 4 seconds away. Honda keeps three riders in the Top 4.
In Rally2, Paolo Lucci (BAS World KTM Racing) won with a 6’37” advantage over Jean-Loup Lepan (Duust Diverse Racing). The Italian continues to dominate the overall class classification, more than 23 minutes ahead of the Frenchman, and more than 33 minutes ahead of another BAS World KTM Racing rider, Toni Mulec. In the quads, Abdulaziz Ahli (Abu Dhabi Team) returned to his routine by winning 2 minutes ahead of Laisvydas Kancius (AG Dakar School) and 24 minutes ahead of Rodolfo Guillioli. The Lithuanian is almost three quarters of an hour behind the Emirati in the general classification.
This Thursday is the longest special of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, Qsar Al Sarab–Qsar Al Sarab, with a total of 457 km and a special of 308 kilometers.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
