Qatar Al Attiyah strengths his leadership after the third selective section of Rally Kazakhstan 2019

KENDERLI, May 29, 2019. On the third round of the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies Nasser Al Attiyah set the fastest time, strengthening his leading position in the overall standings. Dutchman Bernhard Ten Brinke climbed to second and Polish pilot Jakub Przygonski holds third overall. The length of the third section "Rally Kazakhstan 2019" was 327 kilometers.

Today, the rally-raid participants have passed the ring road to the east of Kenderli. Through the dunes and rocky roads, the crews went out into a picturesque rocky valley, where a high-speed section was waiting for them along the Ustyurt plateau.

The best time was shown by the pilot from Nasser Al Attiyah, breaking the track in 3 hours 9 minutes and 11 seconds. This victory allowed the duet of Al Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel to strengthen the leadership in the overall standings of pilots and break away from the close competitors of Bernhard Ten Brinke and Jakub Przygonski for 12 minutes.

A key factor in the Qatari victory, according to experts, is his prudent driving style and close-knit teamwork. “We started this interesting day with sand dunes.” It was very important for us to win today in order to increase the gap between other race drivers. It was not so simple, but I am happy. I didn’t drive too much, because this stage is more technical and demanded a lot of navigation, ”Nasser Al-Attiya shared the results of the day.

The first ever Dutchman to win a Dakar special stage behind the wheel of an off-road vehicle, Bernhard ten Brinke continues to demonstrate an impressive desire for leadership in the Rally Kazakhstan 2019. The race driver, taking into account today's result, rose from fourth to second place in the overall standings. - Today I started the second race, after Nasser, I saw dust from under the wheels of his car. But we had a tire puncture, we changed the wheel. After that, we safely drove the rest of the special stage and finished. I am pleased with the result, but there are still three days of races ahead, ”said Bernhard ten Brinke after the finish.

The current champion of the World Cup for Cross Country Rallies Jakub Przygonski passed the third special stage quickly and efficiently. However, the crew of Jakub Przygonski and Timo Gottschalk, despite all the efforts, have not yet managed to reduce the backlog from the leader. - Today we had no big problems. I had to change the front wheel once. But nevertheless the car sometimes went a little uncertainly, we are now working on it. We hope that tomorrow everything will be better for us, - said the navigator Jakub Przygonski’s Timo Gottshalk.

French race driver Stephane Peterhansel and his wife, Andrea Peterhansel as a navigator finished fourth today, 11 minutes and 21 seconds behind the race leader. An experienced tactical fighter on the basis of the third stage, rose from fifth to fourth position in the final classification.

- We started the fourth, drove through the sandy massif, after which there was a very beautiful natural landscape. On the way, we saw Yazid's car and slowed down, but he let us know that he was fine. The rest of the stage went well. We caught a lot of steppe butterflies, we even stopped to clean the windshield. Every day our result is improving, and it pleases, - said Andrea Peterhansel.

The winner of the “Rally Kazakhstan” race last year, rider from Saudi Arabia, Yazed Al-Rajhi, had a bad day. At high speed, рe flipped his car at high speed.The passing crew of the Czech pilot Miroslav Zapletal helped Yazid to return the car to the wheels.

- We started the race in fifth, first overtook Peterhansel in 30 km, after which we managed to overtake Przygonski at the 60-kilometer turn. After that, we followed Ten Brinke, but we were unlucky, ”said Yazeed al-Rajhi.

As a result, Al-Rajhi showed the 11th result of the day and in the overall standings dropped to 7th place.

The Kazakhstan duet of Andrey Cherednikov and Ignat Falkov finished seventh today, covering the distance in 3 hours 49 minutes and 53 seconds. By the results of three days, his team “OFF ROAD Kazakhstan” in the overall standings is in eighth place.

The Russian crew of Vladimir Vasilyev and Konstantin Zhiltsov did not take part in the races of the third stage. Yesterday the team faced technical problems. During the speedy run on their Mini John Cooper Works Rally, the ball bearing, wheel drive and brake system were damaged. After a long overhaul, the crew finished, but decided the next day not to continue the fight.

In the class T2, Mohamed Al-Meer celebrated his victory today, his crew covered the distance of the second day in 4 hours, 50 minutes and 20 seconds

In the T3 class, Fyodor Vorobyev’s crew won the race, finishing with a score of 4 hours 21 minutes and 24 seconds. Brazilian race car driver Reinaldo Varela crossed the finish line second, but continues to lead in the overall standings in this class.

In the series of trucks today, Dmitry Sotnikov from the Russian Kamaz Master team celebrated his victory again, his crew covered the second day’s distance in 3 hours 32 minutes and 3 seconds. The crew of Mikhail Shklyaev and Alexandr Laguta from the GAZ Reid Sport team, who are second in the truck ranking  behind the multiple winner of the Dakar Rally Dmitry Sotnikov for more than 4 hours.

The fourth day of the race starts again at Kenderli, from where rally participants will go around the city of Zhanaozen and finish near Aktau. The length of the selective section will be 399 kilometers.

Preliminary results after SS3

1. Nasser Al Attiyah, Matthieu Baumel, Overdrive Racing 9:15:28
2. Bernhard ten Brinke, Tom Colsul, Overdrive Racing 9:27:23
3. Jakub Przygonski, Timo Gottschalk, Orlen X-raid Team 9:27:50
4. Stephane Peterhansel, Andrea Peterhansel, X-raid MINI JCW Team 9:55:26
5. Miroslav Zapletal, Sikora M., Zapletal Miroslav Team 10:21:05
6. Denis Krotov, Dmitry Ziro, MSK Rally Team 10:28:28
7. Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Dirk von Zitzewitz, Overdrive Racing Team 10:44:02
8. Andrey Cherednikov, Ignat Falkov, OFF ROAD Kazakhstan Team 11:13:44
9. Gurbanberdi Danatarov, Rafael Gainulin, Turkmenistan Autosport Federation Team 12:13:12
10. Alexey Ignatov, Evgeny Pavlov, GAZ RAID SPORT Team 12:47:12
11. Evgeny Sukhovenko, Kirill Chapayev, GAZ RAID SPORT Team 14:31:02
12. Alexander Sukhov and Azamat Munalov, Aktau Motorsport Team 16:59:18

All information about the routes and results can be found on the official website www.rallykazakhstan.com.

For more information, please contact the Press Agency of the Automotosport Federation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty, Kazybek Bi Str., 22, tel: + 7 727 266 21 08, + 7 777 020 12 60, E-mail: y.amangeldi@infores.kz and rallykazakhstan@gmail.com.