Alkass Digital
The newly-crowned World Rally-Raid Champion, Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah and his French co-driver Mathieu Baumel consolidated their overall lead at the Rallye Du Maroc after finishing second yesterday in the third stage, a 336-kilometre special in Zagora.
Al Attiyah, who confirmed his second World W2RC title on Sunday, finished over six seconds behind stage winner Matthias Ekstroem of Sweden. But the Qatari ace has an overall lead of 06:16 secs over Frenchman Sabastien Loeb, who was third fastest yesterday.
On Sunday, Al Attiyah had wrapped up second W2RC title after topping stage two, while his closest rival Yazeed al-Rajhi of Saudi finished fourth. Entering the season-ending round in Morocco, Al Attiyah had led Al Rajhi by 51 points and the margin increased by one after they respectively finished first and second in stage 1. With Al Rajhi missing the podium, and Al Attiyah winning the stage the gap between the two was such that the Qatari was confirmed the title.
“I’m absolutely happy to have defended our title from last year,” said Al Attiyah. “On Saturday, we started 38th and won stage 1. Yesterday we opened and we won the stage. It’s amazing, especially as everybody is here.”
“Winning a second W2RC title with Toyota is amazing. The GR DKR Hilux T1+ has been a fantastic car to drive, and I am very happy to have won the title again. Now, we have all the titles in the bag, and we will push towards victory here in Morocco,” he added. En route to winning his title, al-Attiyah has won three out of the four events – Dakar Rally, Sonora Rally and Desafio Ruta 40.