Köln, Germany,
23
October
2022
|
20:45
Europe/Amsterdam

Nasser and Mathieu held a 22-point lead going into Rally Andalusia

Summary

Stage 3 of the 2022 Rally Andalusia proved a tough challenge for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel. The pair suffered two mid-stage punctures, leaving them with no spares on board, and forcing them to drive cautiously over the closing 170 km of the stage. In the end, they brought their Dakar-winning GR DKR Hilux T1+ home in 4th place on the day.

Nasser and Mathieu were the first car into Stage 3 by virtue of their victory on the opening stage. The second stage of the four-stage event was cancelled for safety reasons when poor weather caused the grounding of the support helicopters, forcing the organisers to resume the event with Stage 3.

As with all the stages of the 2022 edition of Rally Andalusia, Stage 3 started and finished near the Spanish city of Dos Hermanas and featured a mix of terrain including sandy tracks with rocky traverses. It was one of these rocky sections that caused the first puncture, only for the TGR crew to suffer a second puncture shortly after the mid-stage service.

Driving cautiously, Nasser and Mathieu relinquished 11min 48sec to the stage winners on the day. This moved them from the lead down to second place in the overall standings, just 28sec behind the leaders. Their deficit may well have been larger, had a penalty that was awarded to the Toyota crew during the Prologue of the event was overturned, giving the team back the 1min that the penalty initially cost them.

The fourth-place finish on Stage 3 netted the GR DKR Hilux T1+ crew two valuable points towards their World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) campaign, all but sealing victory in the inaugural season of the championship.

All that remains in the 2022 Rally Andalusia is one more stage, which will again start and finish near Dos Hermanas. The stage is listed at 400 km in length, but this includes a liaison of 134 km before the start of the 100 km-long timed section, followed by a second liaison of 166 km to the parc ferme. As with the previous stages, the final stage consists of a mixture of rocky tracks, sandy sections and plenty of gravel along the way.

 

QUOTES:

Glyn Hall, Team Principal: 

“We had some anxious moments with Stage 3 today, given the two punctures that Nasser and Mathieu suffered. They ended up having to tiptoe to the finish, as they had no more spares on board. Despite this, they managed to score enough points by virtue of their fourth place to all but seal the W2RC title. Now, we need to focus on tomorrow’s final stage.”

Nasser Al-Attiyah: 

“It is always difficult to drive slower and maintain focus and rhythm. But today, we had no choice, with two mid-stage punctures. I’m pleased that we got to the end without any further punctures, restricting our time loss to less than 12 minutes.”

Mathieu Baumel: 

“It was great that we could get back to racing today, after the cancellation of Stage 2 due to poor weather. Unfortunately, it wasn’t an easy day for us, but despite the challenges we faced, we are now on the brink of winning the inaugural W2RC title, which was our goal from the beginning of the year.”

 

STAGE 3 RESULTS:


1.  S. LOEB (FRA) / F. LURQUIN (BEL)                       BAHRAIN RAID XTREME        Hunter                       03:37:01

2.  Y. AL RAJHI (SAU) / D. VON ZITZEWITZ (DEU)  OVERDRIVE RACING              Hilux                          +4:42

3.  G. CHICHERIT (FRA) / A. WINOCQ (FRA)          GCK MOTORSPORT               Hunter                       +9:32

4.  N. AL-ATTIYAH (QAT) / M. BAUMEL (FRA)          TOYOTA GAZOO RACING0   GR DKR Hilux          +11:48

5.  G. DE MEVIUS (BEL) / F. CAZALET (FRA)            RED BULL JUNIOR TEAM        OT3                           +13:12

 

OVERALL STANDINGS AFTER STAGE 3:

1.  S. LOEB (FRA) / F. LURQUIN (BEL)                       BAHRAIN RAID XTREME        Hunter                     07:22:58

2.  N. AL-ATTIYAH (QAT) / M. BAUMEL (FRA)          TOYOTA GAZOO RACING    GR DKR Hilux         +00:28

3.  Y. AL RAJHI (SAU) / D. VON ZITZEWITZ (DEU)  OVERDRIVE RACING              Hilux                        +02:20

4.  G. CHICHERIT (FRA) / A. WINOCQ (FRA)          GCK MOTORSPORT               Hunter                     +11:16

5.  G. DE MEVIUS (BEL) / F. CAZALET (FRA)             RED BULL JUNIOR TEAM      OT3                          +20:37

 

 

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