Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah, Dubai-based Englishman Sam Sunderland and Kuwait's Fahad Al-Musallam claimed the fastest times in the car, motorcycle and quad categories on the two cross-over laps of the very short super special stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge powered by Nissan, held at the Al-Forsan International Sports Resort, Saturday afternoon. Behind the early pace-setters in their respective categories, former Czech WRC star Martin Prokop (Ford) and Russian Vladimir Vasilyev (Mini) and were second and third quickest in the cars behind Al-Attiyah's Toyota Hilux. Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi's first competitive kilometers in his new Abu Dhabi Racing Peugeot 3008 DKR resulted in a cautious sixth.
Frenchman Antoine Meo (KTM) and Chile's Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna) rounded off the top three on two wheels behind Sunderland's factory KTM. Aussie Lee Stephens pushed hard on his KTM 500 EXC to finish sixth, but is not eligible for the FIM World Championship.
Yamaha-mounted Al-Musallam, the winner of the recent Dubai International Baja's quad section, snatched a 4.8-second lead over Dutchman Kees Koolen, while Peru's Alexis Hernandez Ponce was third quad home.
Cars were flagged away from the start by Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al-Nahyan, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development and Chairman of the General Authority for Youth and Sports Welfare, and event founder and ATCUAE President Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge is taking place under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the Ruler's representative in Al-Dafra region, and has invaluable support from Al-Dafrah Region Municipality, Abu Dhabi Municipality, the UAE Army, Abu Dhabi Police, National Ambulance Service, Yas Marina Circuit, ADNOC, Abu Dhabi Aviation, Al-Ain Water, Abu Dhabi Waste Management, Rotana and Centro Hotel – Yas Island, the Qasr Al-Sarab Resort and Al-Forsan Circuit. — SG
