Nasser Al-Attiyah and navigator Fabian Lurquin have continued their pursuit of Rally-Raid Portugal glory and were all set to complete the first day of competitive action in second place for The Dacia Sandriders before time penalties dropped them eighth.
The winners of Tuesday’s Prologue, Al-Attiyah, from Qatar, and Belgian Lurquin elected to start fourth on the road this morning in their sustainable-fuel Dacia Sandrider following their pacesetting performance yesterday.
Having run fifth for much of the day, Al-Attiyah and Lurquin staged a late comeback to claim second position, 1m48s behind the leading crew at the finish of SS1.
After charging through SS2, the second part of Wednesday’s two-part 425-kilometre loop stage, which followed the same route as yesterday’s Prologue, albeit in a reverse direction, Al-Attiyah and Lurquin were served with a total of 3m20s of penalties for a false start and over-speeding offences.
Bidding to make it back-to-back Rally-Raid Portugal wins and defend his lead of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship, Al-Attiyah’s day might have ended in frustration, but with four days of competition remaining, the reigning W2RC champion remains in the fight.
Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger were the second Dacia Sandrider-powered crew to leave the start in Grândola and returned to the town in sixth place after a day spent tackling mainly fast and winding gravel and dirt tracks.
Although dust was less of a factor for the French pair initially, Loeb reported losing ground when he closed on a rival who’d been delayed by tyre damage. Loeb now plans to work with The Dacia Sandriders’ expert engineers and technicians tonight to make the handling of his BFGoodrich-equipped Dacia Sandrider more to his liking.
Starting their first W2RC event since January’s Dakar, Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno set out this morning 12th on the road. Intent on building their experience – and confidence – onboard their Dacia Sandrider, the Spaniards are a strong ninth overnight ahead of their homecoming tomorrow.
The penultimate round of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship continues on Thursday (September 25) when the action heads across the border into Spain for Stage 2 (SS3).
KEY QUOTES
NASSER AL-ATTIYAH (QATAR), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS : « I would say it’s been a good day, but we were a little bit struggling with the road position. Now we are fixing our car for tomorrow. It should be good and we try to win the stage. »
CRISTINA GUTIÉRREZ (SPAIN), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS : « The day was good, we are taking the rhythm, we spend many months without competing in my Dacia Sandrider and it’s important for us to start to feel the adrenalin and the competition. We didn’t do any mistakes except with the brakes, but I think everyone has the same problem because the tracks are very demanding for the brakes. Finally, we could get the rhythm without any problem, and we finish in the top 10, which is a good result for tomorrow and the starting position. »
SÉBASTIEN LOEB (FRANCE), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS : « At the end it was a good day, we are at the finish line. We were expecting to be a bit faster, okay I was a bit slow in the beginning of the stage. I don’t know really, I had the correct rhythm, but the time was not incredible, and, in the end, I was a bit in the dust of Carlos [Sainz] who had a puncture before. It was not a perfect day but a good start of the rally. The feeling with the car is not so bad, we try to do some little adjustments tonight and tomorrow is another day. »
ÉDOUARD BOULANGER (FRANCE), NAVIGATOR, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS : « It was a good day in the car. We had a decent pace, a clean navigation. For sure opening the road was sometimes tricky to find the right way. But for us it was really good, perhaps just
missing a bit of progression, but it’s day one and we’ve seen behind they were pushing much more than we did so we were a bit surprised by the gap at the end of the day. It was like a cross-country day, we were not pushing like hell, just managing the pace and the risk. Tomorrow will be better for us, starting a little bit behind. In the end it’s not perfect day but a decent day. »
RALLY-RAID PORTUGAL STAGE 1 (SS1/SS2) RESULTS (UNOFFICIAL) – Grândola-Grândola
Stage distance: 302.10km Liaison distance: 123.42km Total distance: 425.52km
6th: Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Édouard Boulanger (FRA), 2h34m36s
8th: Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL), 2h35m18s
9th: Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP)/Pablo Moreno (ESP), 2h36m18s
RALLY-RAID PORTUGAL: THE BIG NUMBER
2: Nasser Al-Attiyah is bidding to win Rally-Raid Portugal for a second year in a row having triumphed on the inaugural edition in 2024.
THE DAY AHEAD: STAGE 2 (SS3), SEPTEMBER 25
Stage 2 of Rally-Raid Portugal on Thursday September 25 marks the start of the journey across the border into Spain and onward to the bivouac and the overnight halt in Badajoz. At 655 kilometres, it’s the event’s longest stage and includes 429 kilometres of demanding timed action. Organisers have described the stage as having « three distinct sections, the first with sandy but hard tracks, the second part is a mountain route with some stones but generally a good surface and a third part, in Spain, running on farm tracks ».
Stage distance: 429km Liaison distance: 226km Total distance: 655km