Toyota Gazoo Racing's Qatari driver Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah in action during the opening stage of 2022 Andalucia Rally, yesterday.
Doha: Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah’s World Rally-Raid Championship title hopes suffered a mini blow yesterday after the Qatari was handed down a one-minute penalty for speeding, pushing him down to eighth place in both the stage and the general standings in yesterday’s prologue stage at the Andalucia Rally.
Al Attiyah holds a 22-point advantage over Sebastien Loeb, who won the opening round for Bahrain Raid Xtreme (BRX) yesterday.
Al Attiyah partnering his co-driver Mathieu Baumel in the Toyota Gazoo Racing GR DKR Hilux was hot on Loeb’s heels with five seconds behind, but the penalty sent the three-time Dakar champion careening down the standings.
Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi in another Toyota Hilux set the third quickest time on the stage, just ahead of Guerlain Chicherit, winner of the penultimate round in Morocco earlier this month alongside fellow-Frenchman Alex Winocq in their Prodrive Hunter.
The qualifying stage which launched the final battle to decide the 2022 World Rally-Raid Championship was a 9.6 km test around the Grand Dos Hermanas Racecourse, where the Andalucia Rally is based for the week.
The short prologue stage was important because the top ten drivers earned the right to pick their crucial starting position in today’s first of four long selective sections.
The first full-blown hostilities will break out today with stage 1B, a 464 km romp through the Province of Seville featuring 319 km of timed sections.
The championship could ultimately be decided by stage wins in Andalucia, as they carry extra bonus points, in addition to the points secured by overall finishing positions on Sunday.
