Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah and his co-driver Matthieu Baumel took a slender lead in the Andalucia Rally in Spain after winning the first stage on Thursday.
Driving a newly designed Toyota Hilux Overdrive, al-Attiyah put in the fastest drive between Arcos de la Frontera and Villamartin, completing the 177km route in 1 hour 39.25 seconds. The final two sections of the stage yesterday were cancelled by the organisers for safety reasons.
Al-Attiyah and Frenchman Baumel were just 1 minute 28 seconds ahead of Lithuanian driver Zala Vaidotas and Portuguese co-driver Paulo Fiuza, who drove a Mini Cooper. Local favourites Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz were not far behind, a mere 2 minute 41 seconds separating them and al-Attiyah, despite encountering GPS system failure.
In compliance with FIA regulations, the top ten chose their starting positions with Wednesday’s 8km prologue winner al-Attiyah opting to start third behind his long-time rival Sainz.
Talking tactics before making his choice, Nasser confided: “The perfect solution would be to start third or fourth behind Carlos (Sainz) and Yazeed (al-Rajhi) as you don’t want to be behind slow cars but wherever Carlos starts I’ll be starting behind him,” the Qatari legend said.
Meanwhile, al-Attiyah’s brother Khalifa al-Attiyah along with French co-driver Xavier Panseri topped the T4 category. Khalifa, driving a Can-Am Maverick XRS, is overall 12th with a total time of 1 hour 54 minute 46 seconds.
Today the second stage of 381km will be held between Arahal and Coripe. The fourth and final stage is slated for Sunday.