Al-Attiyah-Baumel remain the masters of the Andalusia Rally

From the hills to the plains of Villamartin (Spain), the fourth and final stage of this Rally of Andalusia 2021 promised ultimate twists and turns. In the general classification, the new episode of the duel between Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel (Toyota) To Carlos Sainz-Lucas Cruz (Mini JCW 4×4) was clearly in favor of the first named.

The Qatari and the Frenchman, who left this Sunday, May 16 with a 4'40'' lead in the standings, first let their Spanish opponents get excited. On this 247 km long special, the Toyota Hilux was constantly behind the Mini diesel during the six way-points.

Were the title holders in danger? At the last intermediate point before arriving at the airfield, Sainz-Cruz had made up half of their deficit! The suspense was only superficial: “We were in “control” mode will admit, with a smirk, Nasser Al-Attiyah. There was no need to attack too much. We had built up a sufficient margin thanks to our three stage successes. »

Beaten, “El Matador” remained true to his reputation. The Madrilenian congratulated his opponent, but showed off the mask before even putting one on in the literal sense! “To be honest, if the rally started today, I would have been better prepared, because I had never driven this car before,” explained the double world rally champion.

⚠ BREAKING NEWS ⚠

Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel claim the #AndaluciaRally 2021 victory!

Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz finished 2nd.

Yazeed Al Rajhi and Dirk Von Zitzewitz are 3rd.#AndaluciaRally #Long liveAndalucia @ViveAndalucia pic.twitter.com/vWHTnXQPKO

— Andalucía Rally (@Andalucia_Rally) May 16, 2021

It's still good to be able to ride at home. I pushed as hard as I could today, but it wasn't enough. » The X-Raid team also recorded the third scratch time of debutant Mattias Ekström (Mini).

The Swede, who came here to perfect his knowledge of rally raids before the Extreme E in Senegal and most certainly the Dakar 2022, confirms his good progress. He finished the event in fifth place.

On the T3 side, the Belgian Guillaume de Mévius seemed to reach with his fingertips a first victory for his debut within the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team. Unfortunately, that meant a gearbox failure in the middle of the special!

When stopped, de Mévius and his co-pilot Tom Colsoul could only observe the rise of Cristina Gutiérrez and François Cazalet. Never the victim of the slightest mechanical problem, but never winner of a special, the Spaniard, in Prodrive's sights for the 2022 Dakar, and the Béarnais, used their heads to win the category.

Find in issue 2311 of AUTOhebdo, on sale Monday evening digitally and Wednesday on newsstands, the analysis of the Andalusia Rally by our special correspondent.

Stage 4 ranking: 

Final general classification: