(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
Villamartin: Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and Saudi Arabia's Yazeed Al Rajhi finished first and third overall in the inaugural Andalucia Rally in southern Spain yesterday.
Driving a pair of Toyota Hiluxes for Toyota Gazoo Racing and Overdrive Racing, the duo were the class of the field for much of the four-day off-road event that ran for the first time in the remote rural region between Malaga, Seville and Jerez.
A 10-minute penalty for a speeding violation cost the Saudi a potential victory after the third stage and he reached the finish 7min 17sec behind runner-up Carlos Sainz, with Al Attiyah securing victory over the Spaniard by the margin of 3min 14sec.
Organised in a short period of time to replace the Rally of Morocco - that was cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic the Andalucia Rally utilised all the necessary safety protocols and became a superb shakedown arena for teams making preparations for the forthcoming Dakar Rally.
Al Attiyah and French codriver Matthieu Baumel won the super special and the second and third stages on their way to victory. Al Rajhi was fastest on the first selective section and the time penalty cost him the win on stage three.
'This is a great victory for Matthieu, myself and all the team and a very useful event before the Dakar, said Al Attiyah.
'It was the first time I came here to Andalucia. The scenery was magnificent. I thank David Castera and the organising team for bringing us all together. It's like a mini-Dakar!
Dutchman Bernhard Ten Brinke and his Belgian navigator Tom Colsoul were in contention for a podium finish until their Toyota sustained a broken drive shaft on the third stage. Ten Brinke clocked the second fastest time on the final day but the damage had been done the previous day.
Fellow countryman Erik Van Loon had been holding seventh overall with French co-driver Sébastien Delaunay until he suffered a broken rear suspension arm on the third stage and slipped out of contention for the top five. The Dutchman was classified seventh on the last stage.
American Mitch Guthrie and Norwegian co-driver Ole Floene claimed victory for the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team in the T3 category. At the wheel of the first of three OT3 by Overdrive Prototypes, Guthrie reached the finish 6min 25sec ahead of Swedish rally cross supremo and team-mate Kevin Hansen and his French co-driver François Cazelet.
Al Attiyah shared the spoils with Peterhansel in the nine-kilometre super special stage that preceded the opening varied selective section of 258km that looped through the Andalucian countryside around Villamartin and included some sandy and open tracks and narrower and more technical sections. Ten Brinke came home in third place, 10 seconds adrift, and Al Rajhi was fourth.
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