Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel guided their Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux to a second successive victory in the five-day Andalucia Rally in southern Spain and got their 2021 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies campaign off to the perfect start.
Sainz exacts revenge on Al-Attiyah with fastest time on opening stage of Hail Baja 2
The duel between Mini’s Carlos Sainz and Toyota’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah was rekindled in explosive fashion. This was on the opening Baqqa selective section of Hail Baja 2 on Tuesday.
The triple Dakar winners continued the fight for supremacy that they had begun at the fourth round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas last weekend.
The Spaniard and co-driver Lucas Cruz moved in front of their rival after around one third of the day’s 311.57km stage; after the Toyota Hilux driver stopped to change a puncture and went on to win the special by 2min 20sec.
HAIL: The duel between Mini’s Carlos Sainz and Toyota’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah was rekindled in explosive fashion on the opening Baqqa selective section of Hail Baja 2 on Tuesday.
The triple Dakar winners continued the fight for supremacy that they had begun at the fourth round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas last weekend. The Spaniard and co-driver Lucas Cruz moved in front of their rival after around one-third of the day’s 311.57-km stage after the Toyota Hilux driver stopped to change a puncture and went on to win the special by 2min 20sec.
Sainz’s stage win deprived Al-Attiyah and his French co-driver Matthieu Baumel of half a point, as they try and hunt down Russian Vladimir Vasilyev (Mini) and Dutchman Bernhard Ten Brinke (Toyota) to snatch the FIA Baja title. But second place was sufficient for Al-Attiyah to claim one bonus point for his runner-up spot.
HAIL: Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah took a 2min 50sec lead over Carlos Sainz after the opening 251.81 km Radifah selective section of Hail Baja 1, round four of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas, on Friday.
The two triple Dakar winners were the quickest through the latter sections of the stage, with the Toyota Hilux driver snatching the stage win from his Mini Buggy rival.
Sainz’s teammate and Dakar legend Stephane Peterhansel rounded off the podium places after an early puncture, the Frenchman pushing local star Yazeed Al-Rajhi down to fourth place in the second of the Toyotas.
Overnight leader Al-Attiyah said: “It was a very good day for us and we started in a good position behind Carlos. We were fighting with Carlos. The last 40 km we were together and he touched us two times we were together all the way. I am happy to win the stage.”