Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi extended his overall lead over Nasser Al Attiyah by 43 seconds to eight minutes 22ses going into the final day of the Pharaons International Rally, round five of the Cross Country Rally World Cup.
Al Attiyah had managed to shave off 1min 23sec after winning the previous day’s stage but Al Rajhi stepped up the pressure on Friday, exchanging the stage lead several times with the Qatari before finishing 43 seconds ahead on a day when the temperatures eased a bit to the relief of all drivers.
Though Al Rajhi opens Saturday's final test with an eight-minute cushion, there is still all to play for as drivers tackle 326km before arriving at the finish ramp near the Giza Pyramids in the heart of Cairo.
Al Rajhi admitted to pushing his Toyota Hilux to the limit in order to keep Nasser at bay, and he is hoping not to commit any mistakes and secure his third victory of the campaign and move closer to championship leader Vladimir Vasilyev of Russia.
The Saudi driver said: “I drove as fast as possible as I did not want to give Nasser any scope to reach me. If we do not make any mistake tomorrow, we’ll have the opportunity of winning; but if Nasser should catch up with us, I am hoping the eight minutes lead we have will be enough to keep him at bay.”
Al Attiyah though, is still optimistic of overhauling his Saudi rival because there are still 300km-plus to the finish.
The Qatari said: “The stage [today] was good; we did not make any navigation mistake. But Yazeed was faster, maybe because we had to open the track.
“Today the stage was very beautiful again, with sand, stones and very fast parts. Tomorrow we have the last 300km to go; anything can still happen and we’ll make our best to get it [win].”
Erik Van Loon of The Netherlands finished third, over six minutes behind the leader, and is locked in a battle for third overall with Marek Dabrowski of Poland.
Van Loon, who is 10min behind Dabrowski overall, said: “I’m happy about today’s result; the track was very fast with some slow stretches, beautiful landscapes and during the last 50km it seemed to be a WRC stage.
“It has been hard for the body with lots of jumps; we landed on the nose twice. It’s our second event with Mini and we still have to become totally confident with the car.”
Positions after Day 4
1. Yazeed Al Rajhi (KSA) 11h29m47s
2. Nasser Al Attiyah (QAT) +8.22
3. Marek Dabrowski (POL) +1:11.00
4. Erik Van Loon (NLD) +1:21.25
5. Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS) +1:54.55
6. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE) +1:55.00
7. Y uriy Sazonov (KAZ) +2:28.25
8. A dham Mostafa (EGY) +13:42.14
9. Benoit Maurice (FRA) +17:08.40
10. Keiko Hamaguchi (JPN) +20:16.28
