Yazeed claims second stage win as Nasser extends lead

KENDERLY: Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi led from the start of Tuesday’s third stage around the remote deserts of the Mangystau oblast to record a second successive quickest time at what is turning out to be a tough test of man and machine at Rally Kazakhstan.

The Mini John Cooper Works Rally driver carded a time of 4hrs 12min 10sec to beat Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah by 5min 05sec, but it mattered little to the Qatari after the Saudi’s substantial time penalties after day one. The second quickest time on the demanding section enabled Nasser to extend his outright lead over Jakub Przygonski to 8min 53sec.

Pole Przygonski remains Nasser’s closest challenger in the second of the X-raid Minis, but the Orlen Team driver dropped valuable minutes after a minor navigational mistake, but retains second place.

Nasser, driving an Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux, said: “It was a good day for us. We try to control our pace. Yazeed was pushing because he doesn’t have anything to lose. I am happy with the car. Everything is working very well. We enjoyed the stage. I'm really surprised about these stages. It isn't easy!”

Poland’s Aron Domzala was in good form in the second of the Toyotas. He and navigator Maciej Marton tightened their grip on third overall with the fourth quickest time. Czech driver Miroslav Zapletal maintains a solid fourth in his Hummer H3 and Yuriy Sazonov remains on course for a top five finish for the host nation in a second Hummer.

Kazakh Yerden Shagirov and Lithuania’s Antanas Juknevicius are sixth and seventh overall, while Yasir Saiedan is a distant eighth overall and well clear of any of his rivals in the T2 category. Delays in the sand dunes cost Qatar’s Adel Abdulla a lot of time on the day’s special, although the Nissan Patrol driver retains second in T2.

Meanwhile, Qatar’s Mohamed Issa Abu Issa took the decision to withdraw from ninth position after a third day with minor niggling issues. “We had some electrical problems. It was just a fuse. Nothing big. We thought it might be bigger than that and didn’t want to break the engine. It’s better to happen now than in Dakar. I decided to stop now. We had some small technical issues every day. We bent the jack on day one, the fuel was dirty and it blocked our fuel filter and we cannot test anything because the stages are too long. I know kilometres are important but, at this point, I’m going home to refocus for Italy.” Press Release