Al-Attiyah: "We came to win this rally"

This is the fifth time in his career that Nasser Al-Attiyah has triumphed in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, this time after a very close duel with Lucas Moraes (Toyota). The Qatari and his French co-driver Édouard Boulanger won with a 2'28 lead over the Overdrive duo, an advantage mainly built during the fifth and final stage, this Thursday. At the finish, all smiles, Al-Attiyah had the feeling of a job well done, after having announced beforehand that he was coming to this event for the victory, and nothing else.

“We came here to win but the competition was fierce, we respected everyone. We won thanks to very good work over the last three days. We have a good car, it’s a good team, very strong. We are sorry about what happened to Seb yesterday but it happens. I am very happy to win this race for Dacia and all the people who work on this project. We are delighted to lead the championship again.”, he added, the bad week of Yazeed Al Rajhi and Mattias Ekström, as well as the absence of Henk Lategan effectively allowing the Qatari to lead the drivers' championship from now on.

His co-driver Édouard Boulanger was keen to highlight the intensity of the battle between the Dacia and Toyota crews. A fight of seconds took place during these five stages, and mainly the last three days, where the Al-Attiyah/Boulanger pair really gained momentum: “Abu Dhabi is always a special race for us and the fight was tough until the last kilometre. We were clearly not in control. It was a rally intense but I am very happy to finish on this positive note. After the Dakar, we needed this result to regain confidence. The intensity of the battle with Lucas was enormous and it will be the same on the next rallies.

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