Stephane Peterhansel drives during the opening stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. Inset: Nasser Al Attiyah
Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (ADDC) lived up to its reputation as one of the world’s most intriguing rallies on an opening day of high drama which brought vastly contrasting fortunes for some of the sport’s biggest names, while two local heroes stepped into the spotlight.
Defending champion Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah, who set off in search of his third cars triumph in the event, was soon returning to the start after damaging the front right wheel of his Toyota Hilux.
After the early shock, the Dakar Rally champion Al Attiyah said he is looking to collect as many points as possible to continue at the top of the World Rally Raid Championship.
Al Attiyah was forced to stop after a few kilometers from the start of the first stage as a result of the damage to his front wheel after a large jump over the dunes.
The ace Qatari rally driver had to go with his French assistant, Mathieu Baumel, to his team’s maintenance point to fix the malfunction that hit his car.
Al Attiyah is competing in the Abu Dhabi Desert Rally in a Toyota Hilux and still has hopes to garner points to stay in contention for championship lead. He leads the world championship standings by one point ahead of Sebastien Loeb.
As Al Attiyah and Baumel toiled to make repairs, seven-times winner Stephane Peterhansel and nine-times World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb fought for the lead, and a classic battle was building between the two rallying legends.
That ended when Loeb’s Prodrive Hunter was halted for almost 90 minutes by a broken drive shaft before resuming, leaving Peterhansel and Edouard Boulanger with breathing space in their Audi RS Q e-tron. They finished with a 9 mins 30 secs advantage over Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi in a Toyota Hilux, with Czech driver Martin Prokop, the 2018 champion, 14 mins 59 secs off the lead in third in a Ford Raptor. Poland’s Jakub Przygonski had been comfortably holding a top three spot before his Mini John Cooper Works Buggy lost time when it became stuck in the dunes, dropping him to fourth. Mathieu Serradori in a Century CR6 and Stephane Schott in another Mini buggy completed the top six.
The 31 st Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge is brimming also with the world’s top factory team riders, but they could not subdue Dubai resident and privateer Michael Docherty, who produced a brilliant performance as he swept into the outright lead on his Rally 2 Husqvarna.
After winning the previous day’s qualifier, Docherty was fastest again for a good chunk of Sunday’s leg as he battled with double bikes champion in Abu Dhabi, Sam Sunderland, the World Rally-Raid series leader and eventual stage winner.
The South African-born rider ultimately recorded the fourth fastest time after “a few tumbles”, but ended the day with a 23 secs overall advantage over defending champion Matthias Walkner, followed by Argentinian star Kevin Benavides (+37) and Sunderland (+58). It was back in 1996 that Peterhansel scored his first win in the rally on a bike, and he recorded his most recent triumph with wife Andrea as co-driver in 2019.
