Stéphane and Andrea Peterhansel were in a league of their own today, taking their first stage victory on the 2019 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge to further extend their advantage in the second round of the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies. Having taken the win by nearly seven minutes, the MINI duo now hold an 18 minute and 35 second advantage over Khalid Al Qassimi and Xavier Panseri, who climbed into second as Bernhard Ten Brinke and Tom Colsoul hit problems. Aron Domzala/Maciej Marton had a fabulous day, climbing into the final podium position in their Toyota Hilux Overdrive.

Today’s penultimate leg included the second longest stage of the event at 286.10 kilometres and caught out a number of crews, especially near the start. The Peterhansels set the pace in their John Cooper Works Rally car, opening the road after Jakub Przygonski, yesterday’s stage winner, was stranded at the stage start with mechanical issues. Their stage-winning margin of six minutes and 46 seconds sees them in pole position for victory with just one selective section remaining tomorrow. “It was a long stage today, but luckily we didn’t get stuck and kept on moving as it was a very difficult stage for the cars with very complicated dunes,” said Stéphane. “I like it this way, if it’s too easy I find it boring.”

Al Qassimi and Panseri have now moved into second with fourth fastest time in their Peugeot 3008 DKR, despite getting stuck a few times. “It was difficult and we got stuck on the first section a lot,” commented the Emirati. “There was a lot of soft sand and we’re in a two-wheel drive. We’re here now but I wasn’t sure where we finished in the timings because of the amount of time we spent digging ourselves out.”
 
Aron Domzala and Maciej Marton, in a third Toyota Hilux Overdrive, also set a storming pace and the Polish crew has rocketed from sixth to third having only been beaten by Peterhansel in the section. “We had an amazing day!” said Domzala. “We had a minor electrical issue for around three minutes early on in the stage. We caught Vladimir [Vasilyev] and Al Qassimi and had a close ride with those guys until Vladimir had a puncture and dropped behind. I couldn’t get past Al Qassimi, his pace is quick.”

Vladimir Vasilyev and Konstantin Zhiltsov were another crew to benefit from others’ misfortune. Aside from the puncture, they had a trouble-free run and were third fastest. “It was an interesting day with easy to very hard dunes,” said Vasilyev. “Some were soft on the top and hard underneath because of recent rainfall and this made it trickier. We kept pushing, but I believe Stéphane will take the win for this rally.”

Reinaldo Varela and Gustavo Gugelmin have similarly climbed the leaderboard and the Brazilian Can Am Maverick pairing have powered ahead of Casey Currie and Laurent Lichtleuchter to take the lead in the T3 category. They are an impressive overall fifth and sixth respectively and will be fighting hard to the finish with just 43 seconds separating them. “It was a good day but we almost got a little stuck so had to turn around which cost us some time,” said Currie. “We followed Varela after that and managed to catch him. Every second counts in this competition and it will come down to tomorrow.”

Martin Prokop/Viktor Chytka finished the day seventh overall after a difficult leg saw them drop nearly two hours with various problems. After losing a lot of time in the second leg and now having little to fight for, Cyril Despres and Spanish co-driver Daniel Oliveras continue to show the spirit of rallying by again helping a fellow competitor.  “We had no issues ourselves, but we tried to help Przygonski and gave him some parts so they could continue the stage,” said the Frenchman, unaware until the finish of the section that the reigning FIA champion had been unable to start the stage. They too have moved up the leaderboard and now hold eighth in the John Cooper Works Buggy.

Bernhard Ten Brinke and Tom Colsoul rolled twice and were forced to pull out of the section, and after suffering mechanical issues that saw them out of yesterday’s action, Yazeed Al Rajhi/Dirk Von Zitzewitz did not restart this morning. With penalties still to be added, all remaining positions also remain provisional.

Despite a difficult leg, Qatari driver Mohammed Al Meer continues to lead the T2 production class and Ibrahim Al Muhana again completed the leg in his T4 Mercedes Unimog Truck.

The decisive leg of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge takes the crews back north towards the capital for the final 214.47 kilometre section and the finish at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge – Provisional results after Leg 4 (17:30 hrs local)

Khalid Al Qassimi/Xavier Panseri climb to second overall

Aron Domzala/Maciej Marton rocket from sixth to third

Photos: RallyZone