Al Attiyah takes slender lead on the opening day of Silk Way Rally

Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah in action — Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah stayed clear out of trouble

Moscow, July 21: Team Overdrive Racing's Qatari driver Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel stayed clear of trouble on the opening day of the FIA Silk Way Rally and moved into an outright lead of 2min 30sec after a challenging loop stage of 311 kilometres through the Takyr desert around Astrakhan in southern Russia.

Al Attiyah, who drives a Toyota Hilux with support from Red Bull, the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF), Ooredoo Qatar and Toyota GAZOO Racing and run on the event by the Belgian car preparations company, led the stage from start-to-finish and overcame any navigational hurdles to set the winning time of 3hrs 36min 23sec.

That gave the two-time Dakar Rally winner a 2min 30sec advantage over England's Harry Hunt at the end of the day. Saudi Arabia's Yazeed Al Rajhi finished the first of seven stages in Russia 20min 27sec behind in third position.

Frenchman Matthieu Serradori ceded fourth to the Russian driver Dennis Krotov after running out of fuel 20km from the stage finish. He was then towed to the end of the timed test by rival Andrey Rudskoy and slipped to sixth place behind the Russian.

Loop stage

After a short liaison of 25.67km, Al Attiyah was first into the opening Astrakhan loop stage in his Toyota and was given the task of navigating and opening the road.

The crew began well and began to edge away from the chasing pack, as rival Harry Hunt stopped to change a puncture and Joan Roma was forced to retire through pain caused by an ongoing neck injury sustained at the Dakar Rally in January.

Well clear

Al Attiyah reached PC1, after 118km, 2min 33sec in front of Hunt and well clear of Saudi rival Yazeed Al Rajhi in third place.

The Qatari maintained his lead to the stage finish and a liaison of 26.11km back to Astrakhan.

Marathon stage

On the second day of the rally which will run July 27, teams will embark upon the first half of a Marathon stage to the town of Elista.

Service assistance will not be permitted and it will be imperative for crews to carry vital spares in the car and be able to effect emergency repairs when necessary.

Compact route

The compact route then returns to Astrakhan on the second half of the Marathon stage on July 23, before drivers tackle a second loop around Astrakhan in the Takyr desert on July 24.

The Silk Way Rally then begins its gradual path towards the Russian capital with the fifth high-speed stage on fast tracks running between Astrakhan and Volgograd on July 25 and the penultimate section heading in the direction of Lipetsk on July 26.

The final stage features difficult navigation and runs between Lipetsk and Moscow before the ceremonial finish in Red Square on July 27.

The entire rally will run through the country to a finish in Moscow on July 27, using around 2,500 competitive kilometres and sections through the Kalmykia desert that were used back in 2013.

(With Team Overdive Racing inputs).