Qatar's Nasser Al Attiyah in action during the third stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
Abu Dhabi: Defending champion Nasser saleh Al Attiyah of Qatar recorded the fastest time on the 270km Al Futtaim Toyota Stage 2 of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge yesterday while Stephane Peterhansel extended his overall lead.
At the spectacular Al Dhafra dunes yesterday, four-time Dakar Rally champion Al Attiyah and his French Navigator Mathieu Baumel finished the stage in 3 hours and 31:31 minutes with French nine-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb (3:36:26) coming second.
For a second day, however, Al Attiyah and Loeb were battling largely for World Rally-Raid Championship points, with their hopes of victory in the event already ended by opening day problems which cost them 20 hours, and two hours, respectively.
Peterhansel in an Audi RS Q e-tron completed the top three yesterday after finishing the stage 6:20 minutes behind the Qatari driver.
Peterhansel is on course to become the most successful driver in the 31-year history of the event if he holds on for a seventh cars win, after extending his overall lead to 30 mins 17 secs from Czech Martin Prokop, the 2018 winner, in a Ford Raptor.
With Poland’s Jakub Przygonski another 55 mins further adrift in third place at the wheel of a Mini John Cooper Works Buggy, the Frenchman is in complete control.
Peterhansel will take nothing for granted, however, particularly after learning that Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rahji had plunged from contention when his Toyota Hilux came to an abrupt halt near the end of the stage, while lying just 11 minutes behind in second place.
There was no more satisfied finisher on the stage than Peterhansel, who said: “Today was very good. We had a good drive over the dunes, overtaking Yazeed this morning. We pushed more this afternoon as the car was good and not over-heating. We are learning a lot about the car. For the last two stages we will push very hard, looking for a victory.”
As far back as 1996, Peterhansel scored his first victory in the rally on two wheels. Content with today’s third fastest time, he knows the terrain almost as well as Sam Sunderland, who lived in the UAE for ten years and is the new overall bikes leader.
While defending champion Matthias Walkner won the Al Futtaim Toyota stage on a KTM, Sunderland’s second fastest time on his GasGas gave him a big push towards a third Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge title, with two more desert stages remaining.
He has an overall advantage of 4 mins 24 secs from Walkner, with Argentina’s overnight leader, Kevin Benavides just four seconds further behind in third place.
