The Qatari Nasser Al Attiyah (Toyota) managed this Sunday, almost, his second consecutive rally-raid world champion title by winning the second of five stages of the Morocco Rally, the fifth and final qualifying event for the 2023 event.
Al Attiyah won the second stage, a 296-kilometer special with a start and finish in Zagora, ahead of Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Audi Sport), second in 2:11 minutes, and Frenchman Sébastien Loeb ( Bahrain Raid Xtreme ), third in 2:30.
Al Attiyah’s remaining rival for the title, Saudi Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing), finished 3:12 behind and was unable to chase down the Qatari.
Nasser Al Attiyah arrived in Morocco with a 51-point advantage over Al Rajhi, and to win the title he needed to score a total of 52 points in the entire rally and for him not to score.
Al Rajhi finished second on Saturday (4 points) and fourth this Sunday (2). Even if he wins the rally (30) and the three remaining stages (15) and Al Attiyah retires, the Saudi will reach a total of 51 points. And in case of a tie, the Qatari will finish early thanks to a greater number of victories this year (Dakar, Rally Sonora and Desafío Ruta 40).
In this way, and in the absence of full confirmation of the results of stage and no penalty applied, Al Attiyah was crowned this Sunday for the second time in a row as rally raid world champion.
Schareina wins again in motorcycles: Sangay continues to lead
In motorcycles, victory on the stage, as he did on Friday in the prologue, from the Spaniard Tosha Schareina (Sling). The Valencian did it with an advantage of one minute over Australian Toby Price (KTM) and 2:21 over Chilean Nacho Cornejo (Honda).
Argentine Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) finished next in 3:34, followed by Austrian Matthias Walkner (KTM) in 4:56 and Chilean Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) in 4:58. Also in Spain, Lorenzo Santolino finished seventh and as the first driver of the Sherco TVS Rally Factory team, in 5:41.
Botswana Ross branch (Hero MotoSports) opened the track and lost 7:18 to Schareina, but remains first in the overall motorcycle classification. Toby Price (KTM) is back and 1:04 away, Pablo Quintanilla is 2:21 away, Matthias Walkner is 3:16 away and Luciano Benavides is 3:49 away.
Tosha Schareina will open the stage this Monday, ahead of Price, while Branch will start at the back and will be able to follow in the footsteps of the other competitors.
In quads, the Argentine Manuel Andujar (Drag’on) consolidated his lead by winning the second stage as well. Alexandre Giroud lost at 4:39 minutes. In the general classification, Andujar now leads Giroud by 25:36.
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.
