Paulo Gonçalves narrowly misses out on a podium place in Abu Dhabi

Monster Energy Honda Team’s debut in the 2017 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship turned out to be a positive one with good sensations for the team and a fourth overall place for Paulo Gonçalves.

 There were few surprises in the final stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge which unfolded as had been expected. Monster Energy Honda Team’s Argentinean rider Kevin Benavides headed off in first position after yesterday’s victory. The rider remained at the head of the course throughout the entire 250 kilometre timed special stage, clearly back on form after returning from injury. Benavides, lumbered with the task of having to pay closer attention to the roadbook, was caught up by the pursuing riders, before crossing the line amid the leading group.

 Portuguese rider Paulo Gonçalves also saw that, in spite of starting from third position, the riders setting off from behind were able to follow the tracks left in the Liwa dunes, eventually reaching him as the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge neared its final phase.

 As the stage and rally in Abu Dhabi wrap up, we find Paulo Gonçalves in both fourth position on the day and in the overall standings. Benavides posted the day’s seventh best time as he collects valuable points towards the world championship.

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LAST STAGE CRASH COSTS NASSER SALEH AL-ATTIYAH VICTORY IN ABU DHABI DESERT CHALLENGE

· Motion sickness in the heat of the UAE sand dunes forces Domzala out 

Overdrive Racing’s run of seven successive victories on rounds of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies came to an abrupt end at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, when defending FIA World Cup champion Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah made an uncharacteristic mistake and crashed his Toyota Hilux out of a massive lead on the final stage.

 The two-time Dakar winner began the final 219.76km selective section with a huge advantage of 1hr 46min 03sec, but got out of phase on a fast track and rolled the Toyota, his demise handing the victory and the championship lead to arch rival Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi.

 Aron Domzala and navigator Szymon Gospodarczyk were unable to maintain the lead in the FIA World Cup that they had taken into the Abu Dhabi round of the series. Motion sickness in the dunes plagued the Polish driver for several days and, despite cooler conditions for days three and four, Overdrive Racing’s second driver did not start the penultimate stage and failed to add to his points tally.

  “I am so disappointed. The team was doing such a great job,” said a deflated Overdrive Racing’s CEO Jean-Marc Fortin.

 Al-Attiyah was the class of the field through the super special stage at Al-Forsan International Sports Resort and the Qatari took a 4.4-second lead into the first of the five desert sections in the Rub Al-Khali. Domzala was a solid fifth.

 Punishing heat and soft sand made the first 279km selective section a lot more difficult than in previous years, but Al-Attiyah pushed hard through the first 70km and managed to overtake the five cars ahead of him to surge into a lead he held to the finish. The Qatari reached the overnight halt with an advantage of 11min 35.1sec. Domzala struggled with the punishing heat in the sand dunes and was sick as a result, but he managed to recover to record the 14th quickest time and slipped to 13th overall.

 There was no stopping Al-Attiyah through the second stage either and the Qatari extended his advantage over Al-Qassimi to 23min 03.1sec. Domzala was clearly struggling to adjust to the heat and he suffered a bout of motion sickness in the intensity of the midday sun and was unable to complete the day’s route.

 It was a similar story on the third stage: Al-Attiyah surged clear of all of his rivals to claim the stage win and coasted into a lead of 39min 38sec. Even though temperatures were cooler than the previous two days, Domzala was again affected by motion sickness and only completed part of the stage before returning to the bivouac.

 The Pole failed to start the fourth special and Overdrive Racing concentrated their resources on Al-Attiyah’s bid for an eighth successive victory in a Toyota Hilux. The Qatari was not about to disappoint either and a fifth successive stage win gave the Toyota team a massive lead of 1hr 46min 03sec to take into the final day.

 But the drama unfolded on the final stage and Al-Attiyah finds himself 51 points adrift of Al-Qassimi heading to his home event in Qatar in two weeks time.

 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies – standings after round 3 (unofficial): 

1. Khalid Al-Qassimi (ARE) 81pts
 2. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT) 48pts
 3. Martin Prokop (CZE) 42pts
 4. Aron Domzala (POL) 41pts
 5. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT) 30pts

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O melhor campeonato de TT da Europa no Parque das Nações

Evento conta com a presença de campeões nacionais e mundiais 

É já no próximo sábado que o Parque das Nações em Lisboa vai receber, ao longo de todo o dia, uma exposição onde estarão presentes as máquinas e os pilotos daquele que é considerado o melhor campeonato de todo-o-terreno da europa.

 Em exposição estarão mais de meia centena de Motos, Quads e SSV, organizadores de provas e diversos outros expositores ligados ao Campeonato Nacional de Todo-o-Terreno que é disputado sob a égide da Federação de Motociclismo de Portugal que este ano também promove um Troféu Nacional de Navegação e um Troféu Nacional de Resistência.

 De salientar que neste ano de 2017 o CNTT conta com o enorme incentivo dado por três competições monomarca – Troféu Polaris RZR, Troféu Can-am Maverick Prozis e Taça YXR 1000R da Yamaha – que, em conjunto, levaram quase seis dezenas de SSV, topo de gama a nível mundial, ao recente Raid TT da Ferraria pilotados pelos melhores pilotos nacionais onde se incluem nomes internacionalmente conhecidos como é o caso de Ruben Faria, atual Team Manager da Husqvarna e que, enquanto piloto, conquistou um 2º lugar no Dakar.

 Portugal é uma potência a nível mundial no Todo-o-Terreno com dois campeões do mundo nos últimos seis anos e com pilotos em quase todas as equipas oficiais que estiveram presentes no Dakar (Paulo Gonçalves na Honda, Hélder Rodrigues na Yamaha, Mário Patrão na KTM e Joaquim Rodrigues na Hero. Em 2016 também Pedro Bianchi Prata se sagrou campeão europeu de bajas.

 Para além desta grande exposição onde serão muitos os pilotos presentes, sempre disponíveis para os tradicionais autógrafos, a jornada encerará com uma simbólica homenagem aos pilotos que, no início do ano, participaram nas duas grandes maratonas: o Dakar e o Africa Eco Race.

 Horário: das 10 às 18 horas

 Local: Parque das Nações / Rossio dos Olivais – Alameda entre o MEO Arena e o Pavilhão de Portugal

 Organização: A2 Comunicação (Responsável pela Comunicação, Divulgação e Promoção do CNTT)

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SCENE SET FOR DRAMATIC MOTORCYCLE FINALE AS AL-ATTIYAH EXTENDS LEAD IN CARS AT ABU DHABI DESERT CHALLENGE

· Goncalves leads bikes; Walkner, Renet, Sunderland and Quintanilla in hunt 

 · Driveshaft breakage costs Abu Dhabi Racing’s Al-Qassimi time 

 · Stage wins for Al-Attiyah, Benavides and Hernandez Ponce in the quads

 Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah extended his advantage in the car category to 1hr 46min 03sec after the fourth 250.25km selective section of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge POWERED BY NISSAN on Wednesday.

 But the scene is set for a dramatic showdown in the motorcycle category over the closing stage on Thursday. Victory on stage four fell to the Monster Energy Honda team rider Kevin Benavides, but the Argentinean lost his chance of taking the win with clutch issues on day three and a fascinating five-way battle is in prospect over the closing kilometres between overnight leader Paulo Gonçalves, Austrian Matthias Walkner, Pierre Alexandre Renet, Sam Sunderland and Pablo Quintanilla. 

Gonçalves holds an advantage of 33.8 seconds over the Austrian, but both Sunderland and Quintanilla have favourable starting positions for the final day.

 Sunderland said: “I don’t really like to race like this. The strategy and trying to see what the others guys are doing. I’d rather it just be the fastest rider won. I’ve lost this race so many years by being the fastest dude. This year I have been trying to get the strategy better. We will see how we go. I will have to ride as hard as I can to catch the time back. It may look easy on the paper but it’s far from it. You have to fight a lot and work hard.”

 Leader Gonçalves was in determined mood: “Today I do what I can. I catch the guys in front of me, so I am the leader overall on day four. We have a day more to race. I will to do my best. I know it is not going to be an easy start position for tomorrow. We have 220km still to go. The bike has been perfect. The stage is a little faster tomorrow than the last three days, but we also have a lot of dunes in the middle. In normal conditions the others have an advantage. We never know.” “Very, very happy, because this victory represents all the work I did since my crash,” said stage winner Benavides. ”It’s a new start in my career. I take confidence from this. After the penalty yesterday, I could not fight for the race but this is a great bonus.” 

Mohammed Al-Balooshi has not ridden this KTM in race conditions since crashing heavily in Qatar last year, but the Ride to Abu Dhabi star holds seventh place. “Today’s stage was by far the shortest and the weather helped all the riders. We don’t have navigation problems and I am happy with my performance and comfortable with the bike. It’s not an easy job. I did not ride this bike since one year ago in Sealine Rally in Qatar. One year not riding a rally bike. We have one more day and I am looking at the bigger picture even though I would love to compete with the guys. With the situation I have given myself, I am giving 100%.”

 Al-Attiyah and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel Qatari are in cruise control in the cars and won the stage from local driver Khalid Al-Jafla by 22min 41sec. “It was a good day for us. We don’t face any problems. Difficult dunes. It’s not really high speed and we try to take it easy without mistakes. We now have a big lead and we try to reach the finish for tomorrow,” said Al-Attiyah. 

Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi’s debut in the new Abu Dhabi Racing Peugeot 3008 DKR ground to a halt, when the PH Sport car sustained a broken drive shaft before PC2 and the Emirati lost considerable time and any chance of pushing for the win. He maintained second overall.

 Czech driver Martin Prokop was third to maintain a podium place and fellow countryman Miroslav Zapletal was third on the day. There were also excellent stage performances by fifth-placed Mohammed Abu Issa and Ahmed Al-Maqoodi.

 Abu Issa holds fourth overall and Mark Powell has quietly been chipping away at the leader board and another superb performance by the Dubai-based Brit has seen him climb to an unofficial seventh overall in his Fast & Speed Buggy behind Khaled Al-Feraihi’s Nissan Patrol and seasoned veteran and experienced desert campaigner Yayha Al-Helai.

 Rafal Sonik lost his 2min 08.6sec lead in the quad category after technical issues plagued his Honda TRX 700 after the first passage control. The Pole’s delay left the door open for Peru’s Alexis Hernandez Ponce to claim the stage win and for Guatamala’s Rodolfo Schippers to take a category lead of 1min 43.3sec into the final stage. Kuwait’s Fahad Al-Musallam is second and former leader Kamil Wisniewski holds third.

  “One more day to go at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and it has lived up to all expectation in terms of unpredictability and excitement and we are faced with a fascinating final day to decide the results,” said event founder and ATCUAE President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who was joined for a tour of the bivouac by His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al-Nahyan, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development and Chairman of the General Authority for Youth and Sports Welfare

 The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge is taking place under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the Ruler’s representative in Al-Dafra region, and has invaluable support from Al Dafrah Region Municipality, Abu Dhabi Municipality, the UAE Army, Abu Dhabi Police, National Ambulance Service, Yas Marina Circuit, ADNOC, Abu Dhabi Aviation, Al-Ain Water, Abu Dhabi Waste Management, Rotana and Centro Hotel – Yas Island, the Qasr Al-Sarab Resort and Al-Forsan Circuit.

 The safety side of the event has been bolstered by vital support from National Ambulance Service. “We have ambulances and personnel in key parts of the route to maximise the safety of competitors, media and officials,” said Ahmed Saleh Al Hajeri, National Ambulance Deputy CEO.

  Wednesday – as it happened

 Sunderland led his rivals into the liaison of 128.17km to the start of the special to the west of the road to Madinat Zayed and managed to fend off his pursuers to the opening passage control. Quintanilla shaved nearly a minute off the Briton’s lead, but Renet, Walkner and Gonçalves used their start advantage to close in still further on the overnight leader and Benavides was riding strongly from the rear of the field after day three clutch woes.

 Motion sickness forced FIA World Cup leader Aron Domzala to withdraw his Toyota before the start of the day and Al-Attiyah was the sole representative for Overdrive Racing at the front of the already depleted car field.

 The route headed towards PC2 and bike refuelling at Al-Birer, south of the village of Arada, and then headed in an easterly direction across the dune complexes in the Liwa valleys to a third PC at Khis quarry (225.03km) and on to a finish, 18km from the bivouac, near Hameem.

 Benavides stormed through from the rear of the field to claim the stage win for Honda and team-mate Gonçalves inherited the overall lead. But strategies will come into play on the final day. Al-Attiyah made no mistake in the cars to extend his advantage over Al-Qassimi.

 Tomorrow (Thursday), is the final leg of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and comprises a shorter stage of 219.76km – a virtual mirror image of the first section run in reverse. The special starts 15km north of the desert outpost of Hameem and heads in a north-easterly direction to the opening passage control at 88.52km.

 From there the tracks switch back towards PC2, at 120.78km, and bike refuelling east of the Hameem road and then on to a finish on the Razeen road where the first section began on Sunday. A liaison of 107.30km guides finishers back to the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.

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Victory for Benavides and the leadership for Gonçalves with just a day to go in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge

Monster Energy Honda Team make their biggest impact on the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge so far: a stage win and overall leadership for the Honda CRF450 RALLY duo in the penultimate stage.

 The fourth and penultimate stage in Abu Dhabi, held in the dunes of Liwa desert, proved to be a highly-tactical affair. The competitors, who on paper, stand a chance of overall victory had their focus more on the final stage rather than the win in today’s special. Paulo Gonçalves, who set off from fourth place, caught the front-runners who had started out earlier and rode with the group until the stage-end, as has been the pattern over the whole rally so far. Monster Energy Honda Team’s Portuguese rider finished the day with the fastest time of the group and thus retakes the overall leadership as he had done on the second day.

 The speed of the top competitors was perhaps marginally slower than on previous occasions which allowed Kevin Benavides, starting from behind, to pick off the riders ahead. After overtaking various adversaries the Argentine crossed the line in Hamim with the day’s quickest time. This marks the first win for the rider after coming back from injury, showing that Benavides lacks neither the hunger for victory or the pace on the Honda CRF450 RALLY.

 The fifth and final stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge will conclude with the return of the riders to the Yas Marina Circuit complex, after a total trek of 219.76 kilometres against the clock, to decide the final outcome of the rally. In the 2015 edition a heavy sandstorm led to the final stage being cancelled outright.

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AL-ATTIYAH EXTENDS HIS ABU DHABI DESERT CHALLENGE LEAD AS SUNDERLAND WINS STAGE TO REGAIN BIKE ADVANTAGE

· Sonik leads the quads; Abu Dhabi Racing’s Al-Qassimi second in the cars 

· Russian Vasilyev sidelined with injury; Schott and Gomshiashvili roll 

Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah stormed to a fourth successive stage victory in the car category at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge POWERED BY NISSAN, as Dubai-based Sam Sunderland won the motorcycle special to regain the advantage on two wheels on Tuesday.

 Starting sixth on the road for the 288.73km passage along gatch tracks and through the towering dunes of the UAE, Sunderland delivered another stunning performance on his factory Red Bull KTM 450 Rally and now holds an advantage of 3min 06.7sec over Chilean rider Pablo Quintanilla.

Frenchman Pierre Alexandre Renet knew it would never be easy to open the road with such top class competition and the Husqvarna rider finished the stage in fifth and holds a similar position in the rankings behind the leading duo, KTM’s Matthias Walkner and Honda’s Paolo Goncalves. Emirati Mohammed Al-Balooshi climbed to seventh position.

 Sunderland said: “It was a good day. I started back in sixth and I caught all the guys before the refuel, which I was really happy about. At the start I couldn’t see everyone after the start and I started to feel a little nervous so see whether I was catching them or not. You don’t know. I got to the refuel and I saw them just before me. After that it was good and I kind of cruised back. It was a bit windy out there. It all looks the same. There are thousands of dunes. You recognise landmarks from before and bits and pieces, but it gives you no advantage because every dune is different. I feel happy. I felt fast this morning.” 

Al-Attiyah and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel stormed to the car stage win in cooler and windier conditions in their Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux. The Qatari now heads Abu Dhabi Racing’s Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi by 39min 38sec with two days remaining.

“Today, the same,” said Al-Attiyah. “The car is working very well - a perfect stage for us. There is no advantage to coming here before. This is the desert. It is always changing. Saying that, it was much cooler today in the car. We do not have air conditioning. We saw 51 degrees yesterday. Today was better and it also gives more performance from the engine. Two days to go, but we will drive at the same pace. It’s a good pace.”

Al-Qassimi was upbeat after his first four days in the new Peugeot 3008 DKR. “It was not easy terrain and the organisers told me to go a certain way and we got stuck over there. We did not lose much time and deflated the tyres. It was very difficult to drive in that area. We lost some time until we found the route. After passing the bivouac we made a mistake when we took a different line and we drove inside the fence. We made another mistake about 50km from the end. It was windy and we went off the piste that you could see. You could not see the track and we tried to find a better way. We are still second overall today and for the rally. The most important thing for me is to gain the experience and the mileage and to benefit more and more.”

Czech driver Martin Prokop is on course for a career-best cross-country rally finish. The former WRC star clocked the fourth fastest time and holds third place. Emiratis Khalid Al-Jafla and Ahmed Al-Maqoodi produced stunning performances to claim the third and fifth fastest times in their respective Chevrolet and Polaris RZR 1000, but Qatar’s Mohammed Abu Issa got stuck, lost a jack and dropped to fourth. Yayha Al-Helai and Mark Powell were running well in an unofficial seventh and eighth positions.

Russian Vladimir Vasilyev lost his chance of maintaining a top five placing when he withdrew from the race at the end of the second stage with a back injury. The Mini All4 Racing driver decided to return to Russia, although his car developed engine issues the day before as well.

Poland’s Rafal Sonik stormed to the top of the quad rankings, despite ceding the stage win to Dutchman Kees Koolen. The multiple world champion leads the section by 2min 08.6sec on his Honda TRX 700 from fellow countryman Kamil Wisniewski. Kuwait’s Fahad Al-Musallam is third.

“We have had some problems and delays on the rally and it was nice to have a good stage and a clean run,” said Sonik. “It’s been another dramatic day on the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge,” said event founder and ATCUAE President Mohammed Ben Sulayem. “This race is one of the toughest in the world for good reason and we see many competitors with various issues to contend with. The temperatures are set to come down by several degrees over the next two days after the very hot spell we endured and that should be a respite for everyone.”

The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge is taking place under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the Ruler’s representative in Al-Dafra region, and has invaluable support from Al Dafrah Region Municipality, Abu Dhabi Municipality, the UAE Army, Abu Dhabi Police, National Ambulance Service, Yas Marina Circuit, ADNOC, Abu Dhabi Aviation, Al-Ain Water, Abu Dhabi Waste Management, Rotana and Centro Hotel – Yas Island, the Qasr Al-Sarab Resort and Al-Forsan Circuit.

Tuesday – as it happened

Walkner was awarded a one-minute time penalty in the bivouac on Monday evening for speeding in a control zone at PC3 yesterday and that meant he lost the overall lead to Gonçalves at the start of day three. Mohammed Jaffar also dropped from eighth to ninth overall after being docked 44 minutes for excessive speeding.

FIA World Cup leader Aron Domzala had pulled out of the previous day’s leg after suffering a severe bout of dune sickness in the punishing heat, but he continued into the hardest day of the event. The T2 battle was hotting up. Saudi Arabia’s Ahmed Al-Shegawi had won the previous day’s special, but Yasir Saeidan led overall after ongoing clutch plate issues for Emil Khneisser dropped the Nissan driver out of contention.

Al-Attiyah led the car entourage into the desert for the third day, but injury meant that Vladimir Vasilyev was forced to miss the rest of his event in his Mini All4 Racing. Germany’s Stephan Schott lost sixth place at the Moreeb dune when he tipped his Mini All4 Racing on to its roof. Neither Schott nor co-driver Andreas Schulz were injured and the sweep car was on the scene quickly. Numerous competitors suffered issues at Moreeb and Ian Barker called it a day after wife Sheila suffered a bout of motion sickness.

Sunderland benefited from his starting position to take command of the motorcycle stage. He passed the opening passage control behind his rivals on the track but well ahead on stage times. The Briton went on to win the special by 6mi 01sec from Quintanilla and leads the Chilean by 3min 06.7sec. Kevin Benavides suffered mechanical issues after the second passage control and fell out of contention.

Al-Attiyah romped to another stage win in the cars and increased his lead over Al-Qassimi to just under 40 minutes. Georgy Gomshiashvili was not so fortunate and rolled his Predator X18S in the dunes.

Tomorrow (Wednesday), is the penultimate stage of the event and the last of the loops through the Rub Al-Khali. The 250.25km special features three passage controls and starts to the west of the road between Mezaira’a and Madinat Zayed, before heading south-west and turning east to a refuelling point and PC at Al-Birer. The remainder of the special skirts the Saudi frontier and the dunescapes south of Moreeb before finishing 4.25km west of Hameem.

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Monster Energy Honda Team at the halfway-point in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge

The longest stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge failed to produce major changes at the top of the general standings. Paulo Gonçalves, yesterday’s overall leader after the sanction of Walkner, took fourth spot on the day.

The third stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge sees the race arrive at the mid-point with a 288.73 kilometre stage, the lengthiest of the race. Paulo Gonçalves, who set out from the front this morning as leader, after Matthias Walkner collected a penalty yesterday, was pursued by the main pack which reached him and rode as a group until the finish-line. The Monster Energy Honda Team rider posted fourth on the day and holds a similar position in the overall rankings.

The halfway-point of the rally was a little less kind to Argentine Kevin Benavides who was forced to stop shortly after the refuelling point after detecting a clutch problem. Benavides will, however, be able to restart the race tomorrow.

The penultimate stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge tomorrow will feature some 250 kilometres of timed special in a setting that could well favour the riding styles of the Monster Energy Honda Team duo.

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AL-ATTIYAH AND WALKNER TOP ABU DHABI DESERT CHALLENGE LEADER BOARD AFTER SECOND DESERT STAGE

· Stage two wins fall to Al-Attiyah, Frenchman Renet and Dutchman Koolen 

· Heat and dunes take their toll; Abu Dhabi Racing’s Al-Qassimi stays in second 

Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah found himself alongside Austrian KTM Red Bull Factory team rider Matthias Walkner at the top of the leader board of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge POWERED BY NISSAN, after the second 289.39km Nissan stage of the event through the Rub Al-Khali on Monday.

The Toyota driver claimed the fastest time on the day’s stage, held in punishing heat across the mighty dunes of the UAE. Al-Attiyah’s stage win meant he extended his lead over Abu Dhabi Racing’s Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi to 23min 03sec heading into the night halt at Qasr al Sarab.

“Today was a good day for us. It was not an easy stage. The stage is called Nissan. It is very difficult and hard. We just need to take care. To win by a big gap and have a big lead from Al-Qassimi is good,” said Al-Attiyah.

Sam Sunderland’s starting position meant that the overnight leader was hardly going to win the day’s stage and the Dakar champion ceded time to his rivals in the motorcycle category. Husqvarna’s Pierre Alexandre Renet began the day fifth on the road and pressed on to take the stage win from Monster Energy Honda’s Paolo Gonçalves.

New overnight leader Walkner was third quickest. “I did not know that I was leading),” said the Austrian after the finish. “Saying that, tomorrow they take the gap back. Hopefully I can finish on the podium. Tomorrow, the guys will take three or six minutes and the lead is changing again. It has been a good two days and I feel more confident riding in the dunes. I get into it and I enjoyed it.” 

Sunderland said: “You always lose time when you start in front. I opened all the way for nearly 300km (the stage) and only Pablo (Gonçalves) and Matthias physically caught me. Of all the riders here, that meant it was a good day. This race is strange with the strategy, you know. You kind of swap times each day. Tomorrow I start back and it will be the opposite. You just have to take each day as it comes. It’s been really hot the past few days and it’s really unpredictable out there. The bike is good. I am happy. The team have done a great job.”

Stage winner Renet was upbeat: “Yes, really happy. Today I start five, so it’s easier for me because I have the line and the tracks. It’s good to have a win at this rally. The heat is really high and, with the sun, you do not see so easy. I guess it is the same for everyone.”

Al-Attiyah began the gruelling loop stage with a cushion of 11in 35.1sec over Abu Dhabi Racing’s Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi and the Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux driver pressed home his advantage from the front for the second day in the cars. Czech driver Martin Prokop produced another useful performance in the Jipocar Ford F-150 Evo to set the fourth quickest time behind Qatar’s Mohammed Abu Issa and the former WRC star leapt into third place in the overall rankings. Russian Vladimir Vasilyev got stuck in the dunes and slipped to fifth.

Poland’s Kamil Wisniewski maintained his lead in the quads from a charging group, even though the day’s stage win went to the Dutchman Kees Koolen on a Barren Racer One 690. Wisniewski now leads the class by 5min 42.8sec from Kuwait’s Fahad Al-Musallam. 

“It’s been another very difficult day at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge with heat and fatigue again taking their toll,” said event founder and ATCUAE President Mohammed Ben Sulayem. “It’s pleasing to see the local drivers showing through and using their experience and knowledge of the dunes to carve their path towards good results.”

The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge is taking place under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the Ruler’s representative in Al-Dafra region, and has invaluable support from Al Dafrah Region Municipality, Abu Dhabi Municipality, the UAE Army, Abu Dhabi Police, National Ambulance Service, Yas Marina Circuit, ADNOC, Abu Dhabi Aviation, Al-Ain Water, Abu Dhabi Waste Management, Rotana and Centro Hotel – Yas Island, the Qasr Al-Sarab Resort and Al-Forsan Circuit.

Monday – as it happened

Sunderland and Al-Attiyah led their respective motorcycle and car rivals into the second selective of 289.39km that featured considerable sections through the notorious dunes of the Rub Al-Khali. Further down the field, Poland’s quad rider Rafal Sonik was hoping to recover from the persistent fuel issues that had plagued his Honda after the refuelling on Sunday and Qatar’s Adel Abdulla was given back the substantial time he had lost at the scene of the accident involving the injured Andrey Chipenko and slotted into fourth in T2 with his Nissan Patrol.

As the leading group of riders remained together through the first two passage controls, Khalid Al-Falaisi was forced to retire his Honda with mechanical trouble and wait for the sweep truck to collect it. Renet benefited from his starting position to take the virtual bike lead at PC2, while Sunderland dropped nine minutes to his rivals. Riders outside the top 15 had begun the stage in a pair of spectacular mass starts.

Al-Attiyah extended his advantage over Al-Qassimi by just under three minutes through PC1 and to a little under six at PC2, as the leading group of riders began the final crossing of the dunes after a third checkpoint at Arada. Renet held on to snatch the stage win, but Walkner grabbed the overall lead and Al-Attiyah tightened his grip on the car section to 23min 03.1sec.

The dunes played havoc with competitors running down the order. Both Khalid Al-Jafla and Patrice Garrouste crashed, riders Elio Aglioni and Jan Zatko were retrieved suffering from possible dehydration and Vasilyev and Zapletal both got stuck in the dunes, the Russian enduring a sandy delay at the same point as quad rider Camelia Liparoti was also festooned in the sand.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), competitors tackle the second of three loop stages around the southernmost extremities of the UAE. The 288.73km special starts at the desert outpost of Tharwaniya off the road to Mezaira’a and winds its way through the towering dune complexes of the Rub Al-Khali to finish 19km north of Hameem. The route passes the famed Moreeb Hill before heading south and running along the frontier with Saudi Arabia. It then returns to the bivouac for a refuelling stop for the bikes at PC1.

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