Qatar's Al Attiyah Stays Third in Silk Way Rally

Moscow, July 25 (QNA) - Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah has fought back strongly over the opening kilometers of the fourth loop stage at the Silk Way Rally in southern Russia before another stoppage with a broken driveshaft cost the Qatari a potential stage win. The Overdrive Racing driver reached the overnight halt in Astrakhan in third position. With the differential replaced on his Toyota Hilux at the night halt, Al Attiyah and French navigator Matthieu Baumel attacked from a lowly starting position on the road on the 366km loop stage through the Takyr deserts around Astrakhan. When overnight leader Harry Hunt stopped with broken suspension, Al Attiyah moved up to second place and the stage win would have enabled the two-time Dakar winner to close the gap on rally leader Yazeed Al Rajhi with three stages remaining before the finish in Moscow on Friday afternoon. But a broken driveshaft intervened and Al Attiyah ceded another 18min 46sec to the Saudi and now holds third position, 55min 54sec behind the rally leader. Frenchman Matthieu Serradori claimed the stage win from Al Rajhi by just one second and climbs to second overall. (QNA)