Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah extended his overall cars lead in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge on Monday and Chile’s Pablo Quintanilla grabbed a slender advantage in a fascinating bikes tussle between three of the world’s top riders.
Al Attiyah, with co-driver Mathieu Baumel in a new Toyota Hilux, won the 279-kilometre Nissan Patrol Stage on Day 2 to increase his overnight advantage to 10 minutes, 21 seconds over Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi and co-driver Timo Gotschalk in a Mini All4Racing.
Read more: Qatari driver Nasser Al Attiyah grabs early advantage on Day 1 of Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge
Vladimir Vasilyev and Konstantin Zhiltsov maintained hopes of a third successive Desert Challenge triumph, climbing one place to third.
On a day when showers and wind gave the race an unusual look, the UAE’s Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi was unable to improve on his ninth place overall showing from the previous day thanks in part to a faulty gearbox that had to be replaced at the start of the stage.
In the motorcycle category, the retirement of eight-times Desert Challenge winner Marc Coma has guaranteed that there will be a new bikes champion.
Overnight leader Toby Price finished the day in third behind Quintanilla and Dubai-based rider Sam Sunderland, with a gap of just 2 minutes, 48 seconds separating the three.
Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge results (after Day 2)
CARS
Pos driver/driver, total time
1 Al Attiyah/Baumel, Toyota, 7h:24m.14s
2 Al Rajhi/Gotschalk, Mini, 7:34.35
3 Vasilyev/Zhiltsov, Mini, 7:37.44
4 Przygonski/Colsoul, Mini, 7:39.03
5 Dabrowski/Czachor, Toyota, 7:47.42
MOTORCYCLES
Pos rider, total time
1 Quintanilla, Husqvarna, 7h:43m.28s
2 Sunderland, KTM, 7:45.11
3 Price, KTM, 7:46.16
4 Al Balooshi, KTM, 8:11.11
5 Arana Cobeaga, Husqvarna, 8:11.43
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