After Sunday’s prologue, things got serious on Monday at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, the second round of the World Rally-Raid Championship. Nasser al-Attiyah marked his entry into the car category by being the fastest to complete the 242 km on the program.
The Toyota driver, winner of the Dakar last month, won in 3:13:36, while his main rivals in the World Championship have already lost all their chances. Sébastien Loeb (Hunter Prodrive) did not finish the stage due to a cooling pipe problem at km 39. He was looking to make amends but his chances of victory were gone.
Chicherit finishes but gives up
For Guerlain Chicherit (Hunter Prodrive), the day even turned into a nightmare: the Frenchman was in contact with Al-Attiyah at the start of the stage but he was hit by dune sickness and had to stop several times. After reaching the finish line, he made the choice to retire.
In the standings, Al-Attiyah is more than 6 minutes ahead of Yazeed Al Rajhi, who grabbed second place by 13 seconds ahead of Henk Lategan. Enough to draw a 100% Toyota podium.
On the motorcycles, the Chilean Pablo Quintanilla won in 3h0’15”, 2 minutes ahead of his teammate at Monster Energy Honda, Adrien Van Beveren. Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) is third at 3’12”.