Doha: Abdulaziz Al Kuwari eased through yesterday’s final leg of XION Rally Argentina to win the WRC 2 support category and climb to second in the championship standings.
Although the Qatari did not win a stage during the four-day gravel rally, he avoided the problems that affected his rival to bring his Ford Fiesta RRC to the Villa Carlos Paz finish with a 2min 48.5sec advantage over Paraguay’s Diego Dominguez.
“It was one of the roughest and most difficult rallies I’ve driven in my life,” he said.
“We learned to be clever and took it steady. In fact on Saturday and Sunday I drove like a taxi driver!”
Al Kuwari’s win was never in doubt once Yurii Protasov’s rear suspension fell off his Fiesta RRC in Friday’s final stage.
The Ukrainian ran 500 metres to retrieve the unit before replacing it, but he was handed a 15-minute penalty for driving a short distance on the public road with only three wheels.
He won all but one of the stages and eventually finished fourth. Ahead of him in the final podium place was Jari Ketomaa. The Finn finished more than 12 minutes behind Al Kuwari despite power steering problems and a puncture on his Fiesta R5, but stretched his championship lead to 18 points.
Simone Tempestini dropped seven minutes in the final stage to drop from fourth to sixth in his Subaru Impreza but still won the Production Car Cup within WRC 2. His problems allowed Didier Arias into fifth.
Earlier, Al Kuwari stretched his WRC 2 lead to virtually three minutes during the second leg of XION Rally Argentina.
The Qatari hit a rock in the opening stage but enjoyed a clean run through the rough gravel stages thereafter to return to the rally base in Villa Carlos Paz with a 2min 55.4sec lead in his Ford Fiesta RRC.
Diego Dominguez held second in a Fiesta R5, despite dropping 30sec in the opening test when the Paraguayan went off the road.
Jari Ketomaa is a distant third, the Finn almost 11min 50sec off the lead after a tough day in his Fiesta R5.
Broken power steering slowed him this morning and then he stopped to change a puncture in the final stage before a spin ended a day he wanted to forget.
Broken power steering delayed Simone Tempestini, but he was fourth and led the Production Car Cup within WRC 2 in a Subaru Impreza.
Yurii Protasov won all three stages (one was cancelled following an accident) but is fifth after receiving a 15-minute penalty last night for driving on a public road with three wheels on his Ford Fiesta RRC.
It preceded his heroic efforts to replace the rear wheel, damper and driveshaft after the unit flew off his car near the end of SS3 yesterday.
Didier Arias completes the top six, while Radik Shaymiev stopped with mechanical problems after SS8 and the Russian has retired from the rally.
The Peninsula
