Attiyah is set to become the first Arab driver since 1993 to savor victory in the UAE Desert Challenge, as long as he can avoid the kind of mechanical disaster which shattered Marc Coma's hopes of a hat trick of wins in the event. At the end of another scorching, difficult day Thursday in the Empty Quarter, Al-Attiyah in his prototype BMW X3 had extended his lead to 3hr 49min over the UAE's Yahya Alhelei in a production standard Nissan Patrol. Russian driver Vladimir Chagin was another 26 minutes further adrift in third place in a mighty Kamaz truck, with the top six completed by Poland's Krzysztof Holowczyc in a Nissan Navara, UAE-based Laurent Rosso in a Nissan Pathfinder and another Russian, Leonid Novitskyi, in the second prototype BMW X3. While Al-Attiyah produced another impressive display on the testing 314-km ADNOC Special Stage 4, Coma found disaster when gearbox problems 15-km from the end of the stage ended his hopes of a third successive open bikes triumph in the UAE. The most painful exit on the day was made by Portuguese rider Ruben Faria, commanding overnight leader in the 450cc bikes class, who was avacuated by helicopter to Medinat Zayed Hospital after an earlier crash. An X-ray showed he had broken a bone in his back. Coma's misfortune presented Despres with a clear path to his fifth Desert Challenge victory. Starting the day edging the Spaniard by just four seconds, he finished it leading Chilean rider Francisco Lopez by more than 16 minutes Promoted to third place, the UAE-based British rider James West had a 23-minute cushion over Frenchman Alain Duclos, with Spain's Jordi Viladoms and German rider Tim Trenker completing the top six. Following Faria's exit, the 450cc bikes title looks like remaining in the host country, as UAE-based Irish rider Dave McBride completed the ADNOC stage leading by more than four minutes from South African Sean Gaugain. Australian Alan Roberts held third place, and he was followed by Portugal's Helder Rodriges, another Aussie, Simon Pavey, and UAE-based British rider Sean Linton. In the battle of the quads, French rider Lionel Laine has a lead of almost eight minutes from the UAE's Mohammed Al-Shamsi to take into the final leg, with Frenchman Eric Vergnes, relegated from second overnight, just over a minute further adrift. At the end of the ADNOC stage, Al-Attiyah said: “That was quite good. The stage was a bit fast with some difficult new sections - difficult because of soft dunes. I pushed it hard in the first section to try out some new settings of the suspension, and tomorrow we'll make some more adjustments to the suspension to get it ready for Argentina.”
