Abu Dhabi – Stage 3: Al-Attiyah wins and steals the lead from Loeb

• Dacia continues its harvest in Abu Dhabi. The Romanian manufacturer took its second stage victory this Tuesday, during Stage 3 of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. The day after Sébastien Loeb's victory, Nasser Al-Attiyah responded to his French teammate by setting the fastest time in this 237-kilometre special stage. The Qatari, who started in third position, followed in the footsteps of the nine-time world champion WRC ahead of him, which allowed him to regain more than four minutes at the finish of Stage 3.
• Sébastien Loeb aimed to limit the damage: winner the day before, the Alsatian had to open the road this Tuesday. An ungrateful position which made him lose a lot of minutes. If he initially arrived fifth in Stage 3 at 4'38 behind his teammate, the Tricolore then received a two-minute penalty for speeding, bringing his deficit to 6'38 on the special. Nevertheless, the Frenchman will be able to take his revenge on Wednesday, as he will start sixth at the start of Stage 4, the longest of this Emirati event (300 kilometers).
• With this stage victory, Nasser Al-Attiyah has therefore erased his one-minute penalty received on Monday for a false start during Stage 2. The Dacia driver is now leading the general classification of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge with only 49 seconds ahead of Lucas Moraes, third in the stage and second overall despite a small error at kilometer 25 which made him lose a few minutes. With his penalty, Sébastien Loeb finds himself in 3rd place overall, 2'46 behind his teammate. Minimal gaps which leave the suspense full before the last two specials.
• Stage 3 was unable to complete: following a strong wind that rose in the race area and disrupted the safety system, particularly the helicopters, the race management decided to stop the FIA ​​competitors still on the track. The first Ultimate cars that were able to reach the finish line were not affected by this interruption of the race.

W2RC – Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge
Step 3 – Ranking

General classification after Stage 3

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