Al Attiyah gestures after finishing the stage.
Doha, Qatar: Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah maintained his overall lead at the Rally Argentina (Desafio Ruta 40) despite finishing third in the second stage yesterday.
The event is the penultimate round of the World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC)
Al Attiyah and his co-driver Mathieu Baumel currently lead the W2RC standings after winning the Sonora Rally in Mexico earlier this season.
They are currently 30 points ahead of their nearest competitor in the W2RC standings. A good result in Argentina could possibly see them seal a second consecutive W2RC title following their victory in the inaugural season last year.
Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah during the second stage of Rally Argentina yesterday.
However yesterday, Al Attiyah and Baumel, who had won the prologue and first stage in Argentina, were troubled by a section of extra-soft dunes between 250 and 270km yesterday. It included a fiendish 10km stretch in which the Toyota trio of Al Attiyah, Saudi driver Yazeed Al Rajhi and young Argentinian Juan Cruz Yacopini got stuck.
But in the end Yacopini came out on top, finishing 10:42 seconds ahead of Al Attiyah. The reigning world champion Al Attiyah, who has announced that this will be his last race for Toyota, held on to the overall lead by the skin of his teeth.
Yacopini is now just 17 seconds behind Al Attiyah, with Al Rajhi third 16:31 seconds behind. Three more stages remain in Argentina Rally.
