Overdrive Racing will run four Toyota Hiluxes in this weekend’s Italian Baja, round six of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, in northern Italy.

Aron Domzala teamed up with Maciej Marton to finish third in Kazakhstan last month and the Pole returns to European action with Szymon Gospodarczyk on this occasion to head the Overdrive challenge. Aron led the FIA World Cup points’ standings after two rounds an currently holds fourth position in the rankings.

Fellow countryman Martin Kaczmarski returns to cross-country rallying action in a second car and the French duo of Ronan Chabot and Gilles Pillot crew a third Toyota. Denmark’s Jes Munk completes the four-driver line-up.

The team’s defending FIA World Cup champion and series leader Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah misses the Italian foray to concentrate on securing FIA Middle East Rally Championship points at the Cyprus Rally, although the Qatari and his French navigator Matthieu Baumel will still lead the FIA World Cup after Italy in any case.

Overdrive Racing is also in action this week on the other side of the world with several Toyota Hiluxes entered in a Chinese cross-country event that starts tomorrow (Saturday, June 10) and runs for a total of 10 days across some of the remotest terrain in China.

Overdrive Racing’s CEO Jean-Marc Fortin said: “This is another busy time for everyone connected with Overdrive Racing. We have a team in China on the cross-country event there and four cars at the Italian Baja. No Nasser in Italy, because of his pre-arranged commitments in Cyprus, but Aron has an opportunity to follow up his podium finish in Kazakhstan with another impressive performance and we welcome Ronan, Martin and Jes back to the team.”

The Italian Baja takes place over a giant flood plain created from Alpine melt waters in the north of Italy and is organised by the Fuoristrada Club 4x4 Pordenone. The competitive action starts on Friday evening with the opening timed section of 19.8km at Valvasone.

The Overdrive Racing crews will then tackle a 109km selective section from San Lorenzo to Valvasone on Saturday morning. This ‘Cantina’ stage is then repeated twice from noon and 4pm.

The final action takes place over two passes through a special stage of 76km between Valvasone and Rauscedo on Sunday, before the podium finish in Piazalle Venti Settembre in the centre of Pordenone.

FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies – standings after round 5 (unofficial):

1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT) 150pts
2. Khalid Al-Qassimi (ARE) 105pts
3. Jakub Przygonski (POL) 84pts
4. Aron Domzala (POL) 76pts
5. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT) 68pts, etc

Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi recorded his third win in five days on the penultimate stage of Rally Kazakhstan between Kenderly and Aktau in the Mangystau oblast on Thursday.

The second fastest time enabled Poland’s Jakub Przygonski to trim Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah’s overall lead to 6min 07sec heading into the final loop through the deserts north of Aktau City on Friday. Al-Attiyah suffered a minor gearbox issue and lost some time in the sand dunes.

 Al-Rajhi and German navigator Timo Gottschalk began the 370.9km competitive section fourth on the road and were quickly into a competitive pace. The Mini John Cooper Works Rally driver shadowed Przygonski and his Belgian co-driver Tom Colsoul to the finish of a stage that retraced the tracks that had been used on leg two, but run in the opposite direction on this occasion. The special looped around Zhanaozen to finish just short of the remote settlement of Zhetybay.

Al-Rajhi said: “It was a good stage. There was a lot of dust and we start number four. We push to catch Kuba and Nasser and then we follow until the finish. It’s good to take another stage win.”

Al-Attiyah and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel began the day with a lead of 9min 51sec in their Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux. Despite dropping time to Przygonski, Al-Attiyah has a relatively comfortable cushion to take into the final stage, as he bids to lead the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies for the first time this season. “We still have a good lead to take into the last day, but it was not an easy stage and we had a small problem with the gearbox in the second dunes,” said Al-Attiyah. “It was nothing serious and we will be all set for the last day.”

Aron Domzala was not able to close the gap on Przygonski and challenge for second position. The second Toyota driver ceded 11min 38sec to his fellow Pole and looks set to reach the finish in third overall. He now trails by 16min 18sec. Last year’s rally winner, Yuriy Sazonov, remains a distant fourth overall in his Hummer H3 after another solid stage performance behind the official team drivers.

“It was quite good for us and, for the first 200km, we were trying to pass Nasser but there was so much dust that it was impossible,” said Przygonski. “Then, in the dunes, he was stuck and we overtake him and we pushed to the finish. It was hard navigation, but a nice stage.”

After losing two positions when vital suspension bolts gave way on the fourth stage on Wednesday, Miroslav Zapletal was back into a good pace on the penultimate stage and the Czech was able to set the fourth quickest time. But race officials awarded the Hummer H3 driver 100 hours of time penalties overnight and Miroslavn is out of contention for a top eight finish.

Yerden Shagirov had been awarded 6hrs 45min of time penalties for supposedly missing a series of waypoints on day three, but race officials removed these when it came to light that a tracking error had occurred. It meant the Kazakh was reinstated in fifth overall to the detriment of Lithuanian driver Antanas Juknevicius, who slipped back to sixth.

Seventh-placed Yasir Saeidan remains well clear of any of his T2 rivals in a Toyota Land Cruiser. With Russian navigator Alexey Kuzmich reading the road book, Saeidan now has a massive advantage in the category for series production cross-country vehicles.

Dmitry Pitulov and Zhanat Zhalimbetov lost further time in the last series of sand dunes, but there were good stage performances by Kirill Chernenkov, Viktor Khoroshavtsev and AMFK President Marat Abykayev. Adel Abdulla and Pavel Loginov were running a little further behind after ongoing delays.

2017 Rally Kazakhstan – positions on SS5 (unofficial @ 15.20hrs):

1. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Mini John Cooper Works Rally           3hrs 45min 30sec

2. Jakub Przygonski (POL)/Tom Colsoul (BEL) Mini All4 Racing                                 3hrs 49min 03sec

3. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive          3hrs 52min 47sec

4. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SLO) Hummer H3 Evo VII                           3hrs 57min 58sec

5. Aron Domzala (POL)/Maciej Marton (POL) Toyota Hilux Overdrive                          4hrs 00min 41sec

6. Yuriy Sazonov (KAZ)/Vitalyi Yevtyekhov (KAZ) Hummer H3 Evo VIII                      4hrs 15min 35sec

7. Antanas Juknevicius (LTU)/Darius Vaiciulis (LTU) Toyota Hilux                               4hrs 16min 14sec

8. Yerden Shagirov (KAZ)/Dmitro Tsyro (UKR) Toyota Hilux                                       4hrs 24min 34sec

2017 Rally Kazakhstan – positions after SS5 (unofficial @ 15.20hrs):

1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive          17hrs 35min 22sec

2. Jakub Przygonski (POL)/Tom Colsoul (BEL) Mini All4 Racing                                17hrs 41min 29sec

3. Aron Domzala (POL)/Maciej Marton (POL) Toyota Hilux Overdrive                         17hrs 57min 47sec

4. Yuriy Sazonov (KAZ)/Vitalyi Yevtyekhov (KAZ) Hummer H3 Evo VIII                      19hrs 08min 32sec

5. Yerden Shagirov (KAZ)/Dmitro Tsyro (UKR) Toyota Hilux                                      19hrs 34min 31sec

6. Antanas Juknevicius (LTU)/Darius Vaiciulis (LTU) Toyota Hilux                               19hrs 59min 55sec

7. Yasir Saeidan (SAU)/Alexey Kuzmich (RUS) Toyota Land Cruiser T2                        23hrs 44min 51sec

Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel emerged unscathed from Friday’s 147.94km sixth stage of Rally Kazakhstan to secure overall victory by the margin of 7min 43sec and the outright lead in the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies. 

After moving into the lead on day two of the 2,500km event across south-west Kazakhstan, the Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux duo were never able to rest on their laurels on demanding special stages laid on across the Central Asian country’s Mangystau oblast. The quickest time on the final stage was sufficient for Al-Attiyah to seal his third win of the season after victories in Dubai and Qatar.

Al-Attiyah said: “A great result for us. We played it smart from the very start. We pushed when we had to and had the right strategy. It was a really enjoyable rally, fantastic, and I am sure many more drivers will come in the future. Thanks to my team, Overdrive, and it was nice to win the last stage. Now we lead the championship and try to keep on like this.”

Poland’s Jakub Przygonski and Belgian co-driver Tom Colsoul delivered a second successive runner-up position on a long-distance round of the FIA World Cup and pressurised Al-Attiyah hard throughout the six days. They led after day one and never gave the Qatari the opportunity to ease his pace. Przygonski climbs to third in the championship standings.

“The last stage was not easy,” said Przygonski. “There was a lot of water in the last part and it was hard to go fast but we are happy. We were pushing from the beginning to the end and it was a nice fight with Nasser. We enjoyed the race and the terrain in Kazakhstan. It has everything that is necessary in cross-country.”

Yazeed Al-Rajhi and German navigator Timo Gottschalk won three of the event’s six selective sections but an accident and broken suspension on day one put paid to the Saudi challenging for the overall victory. He delivered an impressive performance in the new Mini John Cooper Works Rally nonetheless and reached Aktau in 11^th overall.

“We enjoyed the rally a lot after the problems on the first day,” said Al-Rajhi. “We have a few races coming and I look forward to those. I had a puncture this morning 10km after the start. It was a small stage and you cannot win when something like this happens. I did not want to take any risks on the last stage.”

Aron Domzala and new co-driver Maciej Marton enjoyed a successful first appearance in Kazakhstan and managed to bring the second of the Overdrive Toyotas to the finish in third to round off the podium places. The Pole threatened Przygonski’s hold on second overall for a couple of days before losing 10 minutes on the penultimate leg.

Last year, Yuriy Sazonov was crowned as the winner of the Kazakhstan candidate event for inclusion in the FIA calendar and fourth position was the best he could realistically have hoped to achieve against the professional teams in his Hummer H3 with fellow Kazakh co-driver Vitalyi Yevtyekhov.

Fellow Yerden Shagirov and his Ukrainian co-driver Dmitro Tsyro shrugged off penalties that were later removed from their overall time and reached the finish in Aktau in fifth position in their Toyota Hilux, despite stopping several times in the closing kilometres after rolling their Toyota. The Lithuanian duo of Antanas Juknevicius and Darius Vaiciulis were sixth overall in a similar car and nearly gained a place with Shagirov’s last stage drama. Both cars were built by Overdrive Racing.

Seventh-placed Yasir Saeidan of Saudi Arabia teamed up with Russian navigator Alexey Kuzmich at the 11^th hour and the decision was a good one. The Toyota Land Cruiser driver dominated the T2 category from start-to-finish to extend his lead in the FIA T2 standings after five rounds.

Qatar’s defending FIA T2 champion Adel Abdulla was his closest rival in eighth overall, but the Nissan Patrol driver lost chunks of time with wiring loom issues early in the race and further time losses in the sand dunes hampered his progress. The Doha driver reached Aktau 3hrs 17min 14sec behind Saeidan in the overall classification with French co-driver Sébastien Delaunay.

The experienced Czech Miroslav Zapletal and his Slovenian navigator Marek Sykora recovered well from fourth stage suspension issues south of Zhanaozen to finish ninth overall in his Ford F-150, although they were the first of several crews to claim at least 100 hours of time penalties.

Turbo charger issues forced the Russian duo of Viktor Khoroshavtsev and Anton Nikolaev to take 100 hours of time penalties on day two, but the BMW X3 CC crew recovered well over the closing days to round off the top 10. Al-Rajhi was 11^th, Kirill Chernenkov 12^th, T3 winner Claude Fournier reached Aktau in 13^th in his Polaris RXR 1000 and Dmitry Pitulov was 14^th.

Mohammed Abu Issa capped a thoroughly miserable week – where a multitude of problems had cost him time – by rolling his Mini All4 Racing gently on the last stage, although the Qatari and navigator Xavier Panseri did reach the finish in 15^th position.

AMFK President Marat Abykayev took part in the event with his son Nursultan but crashed his Toyota Land Cruiser heavily out of the final stage.

The final selective started 35.45km north of Aktau and included parts of the opening stage. The timed action ran for 147.94km and included repeat runs over the scenic tracks along the shores of the Caspian Sea run in the opposite direction. After the torrential rain that had battered the area on Wednesday night, rally officials sent a recce crew to drive through the stage again on Thursday.

With Thierry Magnaldi already en route to Europe, navigator Gilles Picard teamed up with route co-ordinator Sergey Talantsev. “We drove the first few kilometres and then headed to the passage control and carried on,” said Picard. “There was some mud and some standing water but nothing to cause too much concern.”

The next round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies will be the Italian Baja on June 15/18.

2017 Rally Kazakhstan – positions on SS6 (unofficial @ 13.00hrs):

1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive       1hr 24min 58sec

2. Jakub Przygonski (POL)/Tom Colsoul (BEL) Mini All4 Racing                               1hr 26min 34sec

3. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SLO) Hummer H3 Evo VII                          1hr 26min 50sec

4. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Mini John Cooper Works Rally           1hr 28min 14sec

5. Aron Domzala (POL)/Maciej Marton (POL) Toyota Hilux Overdrive                           1hr 28min 50sec

6. Yuriy Sazonov (KAZ)/Vitalyi Yevtyekhov (KAZ) Hummer H3 Evo VIII                        1hr 30min 02sec

2017 Rally Kazakhstan – positions after SS6 (unofficial @ 13.00hrs):

1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive          19hrs 00min 20sec

2. Jakub Przygonski (POL)/Tom Colsoul (BEL) Mini All4 Racing                                 19hrs 08min 03sec

3. Aron Domzala (POL)/Maciej Marton (POL) Toyota Hilux Overdrive                           19hrs 26min 37sec

4. Yuriy Sazonov (KAZ)/Vitalyi Yevtyekhov (KAZ) Hummer H3 Evo VIII                         20hrs 38min 34sec

5. Yerden Shagirov (KAZ)/Dmitro Tsyro (UKR) Toyota Hilux                                        21hrs 36min 04sec

6. Antanas Juknevicius (LTU)/Darius Vaiciulis (LTU) Toyota Hilux                                  21hrs 40min 04sec

7. Yasir Saeidan (SAU)/Alexey Kuzmich (RUS) Toyota Land Cruiser T2                            25hrs 30min 48sec

8. Adel Abdulla (QAT)/Sébastien Delaunay (FRA) Nissan Patrol T2                                 28hrs 48min 02sec

9. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SLO) Ford F-150 Evo                                      116hrs 38min 54sec

10. Viktor Khoroshavtsev (RUS)/Anton Nikolaev (RUS) BMW X3 CC                                 116hrs 55min 45sec

11. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Mini John Cooper Works Rally               117hrs 59min 21sec

FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies – standings after round 5 (unofficial):

1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)         150pts                  

2. Khalid Al-Qassimi (ARE)                 105pts

3. Jakub Przygonski (POL)                 84pts                    

4. Aron Domzala (POL)                     76pts                    

5. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT)           68pts, etc

Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah claimed his first stage victory in Rally Kazakhstan and extended his overall lead, after the fourth selective section of 274.17km across some of the remotest desert terrain in the Mangystau oblast, on Wednesday.

Al-Attiyah and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel, crewing an Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux, began the day second on the road and looked set to potentially cede the stage win to Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk for a third successive day. But the Saudi's Mini John Cooper Works Rally fell into a deep hole in a stretch of tricky sand dunes close to the finish and the crew had to wait for Mohammed Abu Issa to arrive in a second Mini and offer support. Al-Attiyah duly reached the finish 58 seconds in front of Jakub Przygonski, while Al-Rajhi eventually dropped 1hr 50min to the stage winner.

Przygonski began the day 8min 53sec behind the defending FIA World Cup champion and now finds himself 9min 51sec adrift and still coming under pressure from third-placed Aron Domzala in a second Toyota Hilux. Domzala was only two seconds behind his fellow Pole on the day’s stage after a fascinating tussle between the two.

Al-Attiyah said: “It was very hard today. It is a very interesting rally. We are happy to keep our lead and stay like this. The Mini is pushing a lot here. In a straight line the Mini is faster. But we took no risks and we try to manage each day. We did not see Yazeed. It was maybe a different route (he was on). We saw Timo (Gottschalk) but not the car. Tomorrow we have the opposite stage to the second day and we know it will not be easy.”

“It was a nice fight with Aron today,” said Przygonski. “We saw he was following us, but we pushed a lot in the last 50km. The stage was really nice. For me, it was the best stage so far on this race. There were dunes, some sand piste, some fast bits and it was nice to drive. We stopped for a few seconds in the dunes. We passed Yazeed. They were in a bowl in the dunes and it was hard to move the car.”

The day’s fourth selective section of 276.2km started after a liaison of 111.1km from Kenderly to the Senek road on the easterly side of Zhanaozen. The special wound its way in a clockwise - almost figure-of-eight-style - loop back to a finish through that fateful series of dunes near the village of Senek.

Yuriy Sazonov recorded his best stage finish of the campaign with the fourth quickest time and Miroslav Zapletal’s mechanical issues midway through the stage lifted last year’s rally winner into fourth position and dropped Zapletal to an unofficial sixth.

Yerden Shagirov began the day in sixth in his Toyota Hilux, but race officials finalised additional time penalties for the first three legs of the rally on Wednesday morning and the Kazakh driver was penalised by 6hrs 45mins. That pushed him down from sixth to ninth overall.

Lithuania’s Antanas Juknevicius, T2 leader Yasir Saiedan and Adel Abdulla were the main beneficiaries and climbed to sixth, seventh and eighth overall at the start of the day, but Zapletal’s problems promoted Juknevicius into fifth. Adel Abdulla lost chunks of time early in the stage and fell further behind Saeidan in the battle for T2 honours, although the Qatari remains one of only nine drivers still running without at least 100 hours of time penalties.

Qatar’s Mohammed Abu Issa was on course for a top five finish until he stopped to assist Al-Rajhi in the dunes, butAMFK President Marat Abykayev, Pavel Loginov, Dmitry Pitulov, Zhanat Zhalimbetov and Kirill Chernenkov made it safely through the special. One of the performances of the day came from the Russian driver Viktor Khoroshavtsev, who set the fifth quickest time in his BMW X3 CC.

2017 Rally Kazakhstan – positions on SS4 (unofficial @ 15.35hrs):

1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive        2hrs 50min 43sec

2. Jakub Przygonski (POL)/Tom Colsoul (BEL) Mini All4 Racing                               2hrs 51min 41sec

3. Aron Domzala (POL)/Maciej Marton (POL) Toyota Hilux Overdrive                        2hrs 51min 43sec

4. Yuriy Sazonov (KAZ)/Vitalyi Yevtyekhov (KAZ) Hummer H3 Evo VIII                     3hrs 03min 47sec

5. Viktor Khoroshavtsev (RUS)Anton Nikolaev (RUS) BMW X3 CC                             3hrs 06min 37aec

6. Yerden Shagirov (KAZ)/Dmitro Tsyro (UKR) Toyota Hilux                                    3hrs 09min 10sec

7. Antanas Juknevicius (LTU)/Darius Vaiciulis (LTU) Toyota Hilux                              3hrs 13min 45sec

2017 Rally Kazakhstan – positions after SS4 (unofficial @ 15.35hrs):

1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive          13hrs 42min 35sec

2. Jakub Przygonski (POL)/Tom Colsoul (BEL) Mini All4 Racing                                 13hrs 52min 26sec

3. Aron Domzala (POL)/Maciej Marton (POL) Toyota Hilux Overdrive                           13hrs 57min 06sec

4. Yuriy Sazonov (KAZ)/Vitalyi Yevtyekhov (KAZ) Hummer H3 Evo VIII                        14hrs 52min 57sec

5. Antanas Juknevicius (LTU)/Darius Vaiciulis (LTU) Toyota Hilux                                15hrs 43min 41sec

6. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SLO) Hummer H3 Evo VII                            16hrs 20min 54sec

7. Yasir Saeidan (SAU)/Alexey Kuzmich (RUS) Toyota Land Cruiser T2                         18hrs 20min 14sec

8. Adel Abdullah (QAT)/Sébastien Delaunay (FRA) Nissan Patrol T2                             20hrs 13min 58sec

9. Yerden Shagirov (KAZ)/Dmitro Tsyro (UKR) Toyota Hilux                                       21hrs 54min 57sec