Qatar- Al Attiyah sts dominance with memorable Sealine Rally victory

LOSAIL: The Qatari racing icon Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah who teamed up with his French navigator Matthieu Baumel Dubai-based English rider Sam Sunderland and Chile’s Ignacio Casale confirmed their dominance at the Sealine Cross-Country Rally to confirm memorable victories in the car motorcycle and quad categories respectively at Losail yesterday.

The final stage was won by the rally runners-up Yazeed Al Rajhi Pablo Quintanilla and Rafal Sonik but it made no changes to the overall result at the top.

This was Al Attiyah’s second outright win with Overdrive Racing and the Toyota Hilux in four weeks. The triumph marked a third successive win for his French navigator Matthieu Baumel and gives the entire team a comfortable lead in the FIA World Cup after three rounds. The X-raid Mini All4 Racing crew of Yazeed Al Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk won the final stage and finished 12min 03sec behind the Toyota.

“It was a good day for us. This is an important win in Qatar” said Al Attiyah. “I am quite happy. It was good to control the race all the way. We had the speed if we needed it. After two races I have 120 points. Now we prepare ourselves for the smaller races. To win at home is fantastic.”

Chilean Pablo Quintanilla made Sunderland work mightily hard for the second biggest win of the talented young Englishman’s career. The Chilean started fifth on the road passed three of his rivals and then caught Sunderland to halve the overnight deficit. Neither rider could afford the slightest mistake over the closing nervy kilometres and Sunderland held on to give KTM a fifth win in Qatar in six years by the margin of 9min 38sec.

Quintanilla secured a comfortable second overall Yamaha’s Helder Rodrigues rounded off the podium and Bolivia’s Juan Carlos Salvatierra and Husqvarna’s Pierre Alexander Renet were fourth and fifth.

Ignacio Casale rode a superb race on his Yamaha Raptor 700 SE to clinch a crushing victory in the quad category and break Rafal Sonik’s stranglehold on success in Qatar. It marked the first victory on the Sealine event for a Yamaha of any kind and puts the Chilean back into contention for the FIM world title. His winning margin was 31min 49sec.

Behind Al Rajhi G-Energy Team Mini driver Vladimir Vasilyev rounded off the car podium in third overall although the St. Petersburg-based driver was 1hr 11in 13sec behind Al Attiyah. Kazakh Yuriy Sazonov finished an impressive fourth in the Mobilex Racing Team H3 and Jutta Kleinschmidt rounded off the top five.

Marek Dabrowski recovered from a roll in the middle of the week to snatch sixth in the second Toyota Hilux but Ricardo Porém lost two places and finished seventh after delays in his Mini on the final stage. Chile’s Hernan Garces enjoyed an impressive Qatar debut in the DMAS South Racing Ford Ranger to finish eighth after Yerdan Shagirov’s H3 Evolution V fell foul of the final kilometres of the day.

Saudi’s Yasir Seaidan and French navigator Sébastien Delaunay survived two flat tyres on the penultimate stage to press home their T2 advantage into the final day and snatch the FIA T2 World Cup lead after three rounds. The Saudi had won the T3 section at Sealine back in 2013 and finished a fine ninth this week.

Pietro Cinotto beat his father Carlo to the final place in the top 10 and the spoils in T3.

Adel Hussein shadowed Mohammed Al Harqan and the Polish driver Jaroslaw Kazberuk (Fod Raptor) to claim fourth in T2 with his Nissan Middle East-supported Patrol. Abu Dhabi-based Lebanese driver Emil Khneisser was fifth in a second Nissan Patrol Y62.

Kiwi Emma Gilmour French girl Charlotte Berton and Spain’s Cristina Gutierrez all started the final day in three QMMF-backed T1 Nissan Patrols and just one car reached the finish to cap a memorable week in the deserts for the girls running under the watchful eye of Kleinschmidt and their ‘mother’ the veteran WRC and Cross-County navigator Fabrizia Pons.

Positions on SS5:

Cars

1. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Mini All4 Racing: 3hr 23min 53sec

2. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive: 3hr 25min 48sec

3. Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS) Mini All4 Racing: 3hr 33min 26sec

4. Jutta Kleinschmidt (DEU)/Philipp Beier (DEU) X-raid CBRA: 3hr 53min 10sec

5. Marek Dabrowski (POL)/Jacek Czachor (POL) Toyota Hilux Overdrive: 3hr 53min 57sec

6. Yuriy Sazonov (KAZ)/Dmytro Tsyro (UKR) Hummer H3 Evolution VIII : 3hr 54min 30sec



Bikes

1. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI) Husqvarna 450 Rally:

4hr 00min 07sec

2. Sam Sunderland (GBR) KTM 450 Rally:

4hr 09min 14sec

3. Helder Rodrigues (POR) Yamaha WR450:

4hr 12min 08sec

4. Juan Carlos Salvatierra (BOL) KTM 450 Replica:

4hr 15min 35sec

5. Pierre Alexander Renet (FRA):

Husqvarna 450 Rally : 4hr 16min 04sec



Quads

1. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700: 4hr 44min 03sec

2. Ignacio Casale (CHI) Yamaha Raptor 700 SE: 4hr 47min 23sec

Overall positions after SS5

Cars

1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive: 15hr 15min 51sec

2. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Mini All4 Racing: 15hr 27min 54sec

3. Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS) Mini All4 Racing: 16hr 27min 04sec

4. Yuriy Sazonov (KAZ)/Dmytro Tsyro (UKR) Hummer H3 Evolution VIII: 17hr 28min 42sec

5. Jutta Kleinschmidt (DEU)/Philipp Beier (DEU) X-raid CBRA: 17hr 50min 15sec

6. Marek Dabrowski (POL)/Jacek Czachor (POL) Toyota Hilux Overdrive: 18hr 35min 34sec

Bikes

1. Sam Sunderland (GBR) KTM 450 Rally: 19hr 14min 07sec

2. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI) Husqvarna 450 Rally: 19hr 23min 45sec

3. Helder Rodrigues (POR) Yamaha WR450: 19hr 44min 53sec

4. Juan Carlos Salvatierra (BOL) KTM 450 Replica: 20hr 08min 29sec

5. Pierre Alexander Renet (FRA) Husqvarna 450 Rally: 20hr 14min 34sec

Quads

1. Ignacio Casale (CHI) Yamaha Raptor 700 SE: 22hr 02min 08sec

2. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700: 22hr 33min 57sec

The Peninsula