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
8. Yerden Shagirov (KAZ)/Dmitro Tsyro (UKR) Toyota Hilux
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
6. Antanas Juknevicius (LTU)/Darius Vaiciulis (LTU) Toyota Hilux
7. Yasir Saeidan (SAU)/Alexey Kuzmich (RUS) Toyota Land Cruiser T2
