Gulf Times
The battle for the inaugural World Rally-Raid Championship is set for a thrilling finish after Sebastian Loeb won the third and penultimate stage at the Andalucia Rally in Huelva, Spain, on Saturday. Bahrain Raid Xtreme’s Loeb moved into the provisional lead with a 28-second margin over Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah, who clung onto second place overall despite losing 11:28 secs yesterday.
Partnered by Fabian Lurquin in the BRX Prodrive Hunter, Loeb wiped out al-Attiyah’s 11 mins 20 secs overnight lead to ensure the drivers’ title race would go all the way to finish today.
Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed al-Rajhi holds third place in another Toyota, with Guerlain Chicherit, winner of the penultimate round in Morocco earlier this month, lying fourth in his Prodrive Hunter.
Following the cancellation of Friday’s stage, the Andalucia Rally will no longer reach the 900 kilometres of specials required to award full points in the FIA categories (T1, T3, and T4). The competitors who finish the rally today will therefore only receive half points. This does not affect the points awarded at the end of each stage. But it remains to be seen how that will affect the battle for the title between al-Attiyah and Loeb.
Al-Attiyah and his co-driver Mathieu Baumel struggled with their car setup yesterday as the Toyota Hilux suffered two punctures, which spoiled their rhythm as they finished fourth fastest in the third stage.
After bad weather wiped out the previous day’s stage, fog at the rally base in Dos Hermanas caused an hour’s delay before yesterday’s special sent the cars away on sandy tracks through pine and eucalyptus groves into the Andalusian province of Huelva.
Loeb was looking for a strong start to begin slicing away at Al Attiyah’s lead, which was increased by a minute after the rally stewards wiped out an earlier penalty given to the Qatari for speeding in a neutralised zone.
If anything, that seemed to inspire the Frenchman as he set a blistering pace over the opening 71 kilometres, gaining 3 mins 37secs on al-Attiyah and almost a minute on second-placed al-Rajhi.
The nine-time World Rally Champion Loeb still has a 21-point gap to make up on al-Attiyah, the uncertainties of the rally raid which have been so evident this season suggest there could still be a dramatic climax in southern Spain.