ABU DHABI // Nasser Al Attiyah is looking forward to swapping the steering wheel for the shotgun in the coming days after winning one of the "most difficult" rallies in the world, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
The Qatari, a two-time Dakar Rally winner and also a bronze medallist in the men’s skeet shooting at the 2012 London Olympics, dominated the car category in his Toyota Hilux alongside French co-driver Mathieu Baumel, eventually finishing with an emphatic winning margin of 32 minutes, 13 seconds over Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi.
Finland’s Mikko Hirvonen, making his Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge debut, finished a further six minutes behind in third, and was followed by American Bryce Menzies, Poland’s Jakub Przygonski, Frenchman Mathieu Serradori and the UAE’s Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi in the overall standings.
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“I am really so happy for winning this race,” said Al Attiyah, an eight-time Middle East Rally Championship winner.
“It is a very important race and we showed that we can win one of the most difficult races in the world.
“The good thing is we won four of the five stages and we controlled the race from the beginning. So yeah, I am quite happy.
“I go to every event hoping and trying to win the top position, and I always do my best, try and make the least mistakes.
“This is why we are always winning and we hope to keep going like this. We never made a mistake here, never got stuck. It was a great team effort to win this rally.”
Al Attiyah was also pleased to give Toyota their first win in Abu Dhabi.
“It’s a really good car and the team is really happy because they had never won here in Abu Dhabi,” he added.
The Qatari will now return home and spend nine days training for the Rio Olympics before getting back behind the wheel for the Sealine Cross Country Rally at home from April 17-22. That is the last rally on his schedule after which he will turn his complete attention towards his Olympic preparation.
“The Olympics is very important,” said Al Attiyah, who is hoping to bring more Olympic glory for Qatar.
“So after that I do the Qatar Sealine Cross Country Rally, I have a training camp in Italy for shooting. I will be completely free to focus on shooting until the Rio Olympics.”
In the other categories, the reigning Dakar Rally champion, Australia’s Toby Price, produced a great ride on the final leg to claim the bikes title at his first attempt, finishing ahead of Dubai-based Briton Sam Sunderland and Chile’s Pablo Quintanilla. Emirati rider Mohammed Al Balooshi finished fourth overall.
“That was good riding. I had a couple of close calls today,” Price said.
“I was pushing hard from the start. I was riding most of the time with Sam, which wasn’t the plan at first. We tried shaking the guys behind us, but weren’t really able to.”
Poland’s Aron Domzala, driving a Polaris RZR, was declared winner of the T3 buggies class after Emirati driver Ahmad Al Maqoodi was excluded from the rally by the FIA stewards for technical irregularities involving his Polaris buggy’s petrol tank housing and main roll bar.
Poland’s reigning FIM world champion Rafal Sonik won the quads title, while Qatar’s Adel Hussain Abdullah captured the T2 production class title alongside Egyptian Hakam Mohammed Rabeia in a Nissan Patrol.
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Leading positions
Cars
1. Nasser Al Attiyah / Mathieu Baumel (QAT / FRA) Toyota Hilux 17:14.49
2. Yazeed Al-Rajhi / Timo Gotschalk (KSA / DEU) Mini All4 Racing 17:47.02
3. Mikko Hirvonen / Michel Perin (FIN / FRA) Mini All4 Racing 17:53.02
4. Bryce Menzies / Andreas Schulz (USA / DEU) Mini All4 Racing 17:59.04
5. Jakub Przygonski / Tom Colsoul (POL / BEL) Mini All4 Racing 18:06.33
6. Mathieu Serradori / Didier Haquette (FRA / FAR) Buggy 18:39.00
7. Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi / Khalid Al Kendi (ARE /ARE) Mini All4 Racing 18:56.01
8. Marek Dabrowski / Jacek Czachor (POL / POL)
19:52.40
9. Yuriy Sazonov / Dmytro Tsyro (KAZ / RUS)
20:56.29
10. Ahmad Al Maqoodi / Obaid Al Kitbe (ARE /ARE) Polaris RZR 1000 T3 21:34.52
Bikes
1. Toby Price (AUS) KTM 450 Rally Factory 1
18:18.24
2. Sam Sunderland (GBR) KTM 450 Rally Factory 1
18:20.35
3. Pablo Quintanilla (CHL) Husqvarna 450 Rally Factory 1
18:21.47
4. Mohammed Al Balooshi (ARE) KTM 450 Rally Replica
18:56.38
5. Pierre Alexandre Renet (FRA)
18:57.02
6. Laia Sanz (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Factory 1/3
19:19.25
7. Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo (CHL)
19:19.28
8. Jakub Piatek (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica 1/4
19:27.57
9. David McBride (GBR) KTM 450 Rally Replica 1
19:37.17
10. David Thomas (GBR) Husqvarna 450 Rally Replica 1
20:51.22