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 al-Attiyah, who set off in search of his third 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 kilometres 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 co-driver 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.