Alkass Digital
Nasser Al Attiyah won Stage 1 of the Sonora Rally – the second round of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) in northern Mexico on Monday.
The Qatari ace and his co-driver Mathieu Baumel finished the 170km stage ahead of Saudi’s Yazeed Al Rajhi, while Guerlain Chicherit was third.Championship leader Sebastien Loeb was fourth, 2:42.00 seconds behind Al Attiyah’s Toyota Hilux.
On Sunday, Al Rajhi had edged out Al Attiyah by a second to win the 10-km long prologue, which decided their starting order for stage one.
Frenchman Sebatian Loeb and his Belgian co-driver Fabian Lurquin currently lead the Drivers’ and Co-drivers’ Championships by 16 points from the Qatari Al Attiyah and his Andorra-based team-mate Mathieu Baumel, although both crews encountered problems at the recent Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
Al Attiyah, however, ahead of the Sonora Rally had said, “We have speed. We are strong. I am sure it will be a big fight in Mexico and in the next rounds.”
A new event in the FIA cross-country calendar, the Sonora Rally runs over varied terrain through northern Mexico from April 23 till April 28.