- All three X-raid vehicles secure top-10 positions in the super special
- Khalifa Al Mutaiwei the second to start into tomorrow’s stage
The X-raid team made a promising start into the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. In the two-kilometre prologue, Dubai’s Khalifa Al Mutaiwei and his German co-driver Andreas Schulz took their MINI ALL4 Racing to second position behind Boris Gardasin in a G-Force Proto. Russian pairing Ilya Kusnetsov / Roman Elagin finished third, with their BMW X3 CC, thus even defeating Jean-Louis Schlesser. By finishing seventh with their KS Tools BMW X3CC, the Germans Stephan Schott and Holm Schmidt completed the good result of the team.
Tomorrow, the first special stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge will take the competitors into the desert and over a total distance of 285.05 kilometres to Al-Gharbia. From there, the special stages two to four – held on the following three days – will be held on loops. On Friday, 06th April, the final day of the Desert Challenge, the teams will have to drive back to Abu Dhabi to cross the finish line, there.
Result Super Special:
1st B. Gadasin (RUS)/D. Shchemel (RUS) G-Force Proto - 1m 51.55s
2nd K. Al-Mutaiwei (UAE)/A. Schulz (DEU) MINI ALL4 Racing - 1m 51.90s
3rd I. Kusnetsov (RUS)/R. Elagin (RUS) BMW X3 CC - 2m 02.57s
4th J.-L. Schlesser (FRA)/K. Zhilstov (RUS) Schlesser Buggy - 2m 02.82s
…
7th S. Schott (DEU)/H. Schmidt (DEU) BMW X3 CC - 2m 06.29s
...
The FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup calendar:
15th March - Italian Baja
30th March - Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge
15th April - Sealine Cross Country Rally, Qatar
20th July - Baja Espana Aragon
23rd August - Baja Hungary
13th September - Baja Poland
29th September - Pharaons International Cross Country Rally, Egypt
1st November - 26th Baja Portalegre 500, Portugal
