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Qatar's Nasser Saleh al Attiyah, Austria's Matthias Walkner and Poland's Rafal Sonik claimed victories in the third stage of the Qatar Cross-Country Rally, but Attiyah, Dubai-based Briton Sam Sunderland and Sonik held the overall advantages in the car, motorcycle and quad categories after a windy day's action in the Qatar deserts.
The day's stage of 353.02km started near Sealine, passed the Inland Sea and then meandered across to the west coast before heading north to an eventual finish at Mekaines. Attiyah attacked through the early sand dunes and began to eat into Yazeed al Rajhi's virtual stage lead. The Saudi had moved to the top of the rankings when overnight leader Jakub Przygonski lost time in the sand.
Attiyah continued to dominate throughout the day and, when al Rajhi withdrew from the stage after 277km following suspension damage in a ditch, the Qatari stormed to the top of the leader board and now holds an advantage of 3min 23.7sec over Toyota team-mate Leeroy Poulter, the South African making his first appearance in the Middle East.
Attiyah said:"The car is working very well and we do our job and our target to win the stage. Now we are leading and try to keep going like this. The wind made it not easy and we had a small mistake in the dunes and we lose around three minutes. But we came back strong."
Abu Dhabi Racing's Sheikh Khalid al Qassimi carded the second quickest time to move up to fifth overall behind third-placed Qatari Mohammed Abu Issa and Przygonski. Dutchman Erik van Loon was sixth in a third Toyota Hilux run by Overdrive Racing.
KTM Red Bull Factory Team rider Sunderland made a storming start from the front in the motorcycle category and stayed well ahead of his rivals through the first two checkpoints. But his pursuers managed to close in over the faster sections as the stage progressed and Austrian Matthias Walkner claimed the stage win and moved up to third overall.
Walkner said:"I realise now that I won the stage. Sure, it helps a bit when you start at the back. It was so windy out there and almost on the limits for the safety reasons. Sometimes you did not see any piste or nothing. It was really hard, but I am happy that I make up for the time loss yesterday. The dunes were okay because Sam did a great job to leave the lines to follow. But, after the refuelling, it was getting really difficult with the navigation and I slow down a lot."
Sunderland continues to lead outright by 6min 28.9sec from Monster Energy Honda team rider Paulo Gon?§alves. Pablo Quintanilla of the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Team holds fourth and Honda's Kevin Benavides is fifth. Ride to Abu Dhabi's Mohammed al Balooshi holds eighth place.
Gon?§alves was upbeat after his second place:"I did another good stage. There were sand dunes at the beginning and then we arrived at the fast stony tracks. Before refueling, Sam push a lot and I cannot catch him. Then he did a mistake and I start to open the track. I am happy. The bike ran perfectly. We have two days more and a long race in front."
Alexis Hernandez lost his quad lead when he was penalised for missing two waypoints and the Peruvian slipped to second after day three behind the day's stage winner Rafal Sonik.
Qatar's Adel Abdulla lost his T2 category lead in the sand dunes south of Sealine and that opened the door for Abu Dhabi Racing's Mansour al Helai to claim the stage win and move ahead of Saudi Arabia's Yasir Saeidan in the standings. The duo are 12th and 13th overall. Qatar's Mohammed al Harqan is third.
Saudi Arabia's Abdulmajeed al Khulaifi finished the shorter non-FIM section on his Yamaha quad for a second day, with fellow countryman Sultan Al-Masood running behind.
