On paper, all was well for Nasser Al-Attiyah and his co-driver Mathieu Baumel at the finish of the third of the five stages of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. The Toyota team was in fact at the top of the time sheet, with a 48” margin over Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin (Hunter Prodrive) and increased its overall lead over Yazeed Al-Rahji to 27’03”.
But the situation was much less brilliant in images for the winning duo of the Dakar last January. Their Hilux indeed showed the marks of a caper that occurred in the last kilometers of this third stage.
After inspection at the bivouac, the damage to the roll bar proved to be too serious for Al-Attiyah and Baumel to be able to continue the race on Thursday. Forced to retire, they therefore left Al-Rahji (Toyota) and Prokop (Ford) to fight for victory. As for Loeb, in the depths of the classification following his engine failure on the first day, he will try to score as many points as possible over the last two stages to consolidate his first place in the World Championship.
Adrien van Beveren still best biker in the Abu Dhabi desert. (Julien Delfosse/Aso/dppi/j.delfosse)
5th in the stage, Van Beveren remains in the lead overall
On the motorcycle side, Adrien Van Beveren still occupies first place in the general classification. Riding his Honda, the northerner finished fifth in this third stage, 1’03” behind KTM rider Toby Price.
Without a two-minute penalty, Chilean Pablo Quintanilla, Van Beveren’s teammate at Honda, would have done a double blow with a stage victory and the lead. But he finally misses 43” to dislodge the Frenchman, from whom he had blown fifth place in the Dakar during the last stage.