Qatar’s Al Attiyah clinches late win in Spain
25 Jul 2021 - 10:32
Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel in action yesterday.
The Peninsula
TERUEL, SPAIN: Overdrive Racing’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel returned to cross-country rallying action for the first time since the Andalucia Rally in mid-May and snatched a late victory in the three-stage Baja Spain Aragon, round five of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas, yesterday.
Leading by 64 seconds heading into the final stage, Al Attiyah lost time to French driver Sebastien Loeb during the early kilometres of the selective section and looked to be heading for second place until his rival dropped around 14 minutes near the finish with power steering issues and slipped to seventh overall.
The first round of the 2021 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies starts on Wednesday with the Andalucia Rally and Saudi driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi of the Yazeed Racing team has returned from a neck injury he suffered at the Sharqiya Baja Rally last March.
While Al-Rajhi’s medical team has given him the green light to return to racing after a full year of recovery, co-driver Michael Orr, who suffered injuries in the same accident, is not expected back until the Kazakhstan Rally in June.
So Al-Rajhi will get back behind the wheel alongside German navigator Dirk von Zitzewitz for the Andalucia Rally, which runs through Sunday. Their Toyota Hilux is powered by the Belgian Overdrive Team.