Al-Attiyah, Loeb resume duel for W2RC supremacy in Mexico

Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah and Sebastien Loeb resume their fascinating duel for supremacy in the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) at the Sonora Rally, a new event in the FIA cross-country calendar that runs over varied terrain through northern Mexico starting today till April 28.
Loeb and his Belgian co-driver Fabian Lurquin currently lead the Drivers’ and Co-drivers’ Championships by 16 points from the Qatari and his Andorra-based teammate Mathieu Baumel, although both crews encountered problems at the recent Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. That enabled Czech rival Martin Prokop and round two winner Yazeed al-Rajhi to close the gap at the top of the points’ standings.
Al-Attiyah, the champion that he is, sounded confident ahead of the rally. “We have speed. We are strong. I am sure it will be a big fight in Mexico and in the next rounds,” said the Qatari ace.
Loeb is relishing his return to action in Mexico, where he previously won six times on his way to nine World Rally Championship titles. “Of course, I have very good memories from Rally Mexico in the WRC as I always enjoyed that rally, so hopefully it will be the same with this WRRC round, too,” said the Frenchman.
“It’s always a new adventure whenever there’s a new event for anyone, and Sonora certainly has that feel to it. We’re leading the championship, so the goal will be to finish the rally still in front in the standings — that’s the target. It’s been quite a few weeks that Fabian and I have been out of the car, so we’ll be happy to get back behind the steering wheel and have some fun on the stages.”
Saudi Arabia driver al-Rajhi’s maiden win in Abu Dhabi means that Toyota Gazoo Racing
holds a 41-point cushion over Bahrain Raid Xtreme in the Manufacturers’ standings, with the Baic ORV operation in third and the X-raid Mini JCW Rally Team two points further adrift in fourth.
The Sonora Rally has attracted 27 FIA entries, including 12 in the FIA T1+ category. Italy’s Eugenio Amos and Argentina’s Juan Cruz Yacopini join al-Rajhi at the wheel of Overdrive Racing Toyotas, while Loeb’s Prodrive Hunter BRX is joined by Guerlain Chicherit at the wheel of a GCK Motorsport Hunter and a pair of X Rally Motorsport Hunters for the Brazilian duo of Cristian and Marcos Baumgart.
Eleven crews will line up in the FIA T3 series-production cross-country vehicles in a competitive section that is being dominated by three American drivers after two rounds. Third overall and maximum T3 points in Abu Dhabi have given Seth Quintero a five-point category lead over his Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA team-mate Austin Jones, both at the wheel of South-Racing-built Can-Ams. Quintero’s co-driver Dennis Zenz leads Jones’s navigator Gustavo Gugelmin by five points in the T3 Co-drivers’ Championship.
The new addition to the FIA cross-country calendar is also the first event of its kind to be staged in Mexico that is sanctioned by the sport’s governing body. Formerly a round of just the FIM series, the event has been revised to adhere to FIA regulations and is the brand child of American racer Darren Skilton and his team.
Action will be fought out over five legs and a provisional 1,249 competitive kilometres in a route of 2,091km between the bustling city of Hermasillo, the fishing and resort city of Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) on the Gulf of California and the Arizona-México border town of San Luis Rio Colorado in northern México.
The demanding off-road event will pass through the state of Sonora en route towards the Sea of Cortez and across the cactus deserts of historical Caborca before reaching the famous dunes of the Altar Desert and on to the ceremonial finish in San Luis Rio Colorado’s El Bosque Park.