Doha: Qatar’s multi-talented racing icon Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and Chile’s Ignacio Casale took the lead the respective car and quad categories after the third and longest selective section of the Sealine Cross-Country Rally yesterday.

In the motorcycles category the race leaders Sam Sunderland and Pablo Quintanilla are tied with both of them clocking a time 10hr 58min 38sec.

Al Attiyah and Quintanilla recorded stage wins under very different circumstances. Overnight motorcycle leader Toby Price retired with a back injury before the restart and that enabled Sunderland and Quintanilla to utilise their favourable starting positions to catch their rivals and edge into a shared lead with both riders tied to the second. Quintanilla claimed the stage win by 1min 58sec although the nature of cross-country motorcycle racing dictates that he may give some or all of that back to his KTM rival on Thursday.

Al Attiyah and French navigator Matthieu Baumel led from the front of the car field and progressed in a sensible manner to win the special by 40 seconds and propel their Toyota Hilux Overdrive to an outright lead of 8min 36sec over Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi. The two rivals remain in a class of their own after three days of competition and were separated by seconds throughout the entire stage a minor navigational error near the end costing the Saudi a potential stage win. Third-placed Vladimir Vasilyev is now 53min 29sec adrift of the Qatari in his Mini All4 Racing.

“I lost the way a little but we had a good run without any problems” said Al Attiyah.

“I am quite happy. This is our plan. We do same speed and we keep everyone behind. Just one slow puncture for the last 100km but we kept on going.”

Motorcycle stage winner Quintanilla said: “Today was really difficult for me. I damaged the rear wheel on a big jump near the start and drove like that until the refuel. I did not think I could make it. Then at the refuelling I stop and the team changed the wheel. I was lucky to finish the race. I am happy. It was good stage. We have two more days to go. For sure it is going to be really tough.”

“In the end it seemed to be quite predictable. I arrived with Pablo together” said Sunderland.

Ignacio Casale maintained a comfortable lead over Rafal Sonik in the quad category although the Pole stopped at the scene of a crash involving fellow Sonik Team rider Julian Villarrubia near the stage start. That time should be returned to the recent Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge winner at the evening’s FIM Jury meeting at Losail.

Local driver Adel Hussein Abdullah began the stage with a solid advantage over Saudi’s Yasir Seaidan in the T2 category for Series Production Cross-Country Vehicles in his Nissan Middle East-supported Patrol. He ceded 4min 40sec of that hard-earned lead on the day’s stage and heads into the final two specials with an advantage of 4min 06sec

Carlo Cinotto pipped Michele Cinotto to the T3 stage win in his Polaris RZR 1000s and held the class lead at the end of the day.

It was a fraught day for the three female QMMF-supported rookies in their T1 Nissan Patrols. Kiwi Emma Gilmour had passed PC4 at 3pm in 18th overall on Wednesday afternoon. French girl Charlotte Berton and Spaniard Cristina Gutierrez were progressing well after massive early delays and were 21st and 25th overall through PC3.

Today is the penultimate day of this year’s event and competitors will face the rigours of a 354.75km selective section that starts at Al Shabana (first bike at 07.15hrs) and finishes close to the former bivouac at Sealine. The stage initially heads north towards Al Jamilaiya using some of the terrain from the first day and then cuts back across the heart of Qatar between Dukhan and Doha. The closing kilometres then venture through the dunes on the eastern side of the country to finish close to the former bivouac at Sealine.

The fans can follow the Rally live on http://qmmf.cronobandeira.com

The Peninsula