Nasser Al Attiyah Wins Hail Baja 1

Riyadh, December 12 (QNA) - Qatar's Nasser Al Attiyah won Hail Baja 1, round four of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas, on Saturday. Fifty-four FIA cars, 27 motorcycles, 25 quads and one truck and over 30 additional cars are competing in the National Rally that is held in conjunction with the global tour. Despite opening the road on the 275.54lkm stage and having the extra burden of navigation, the Toyota Hilux driver and his French navigator Matthieu Baumel stayed ahead of closest rivals Carlos Sainz and Stephane Peterhansel to win the stage by 3min 20sec and seal a winning margin of 6min 10sec. Al Attiyah said: "It was a good day for us. We believed in our speed. We opened the road, but we only had one way and that was to push. We make incredible stage without mistake, no problems and no punctures. I am happy to win Baja 1. Now we have two days of rest. Baja 2 will be different, but we try to do our best. Third win in Hail and hopefully the fourth one is coming very soon." Sainz and Peterhansel were closely matched throughout the challenging stage in the two new Mini John Cooper Works Buggies and reached the finish in second and third overall. Saudi driver Yazeed Al Rajhi had to settle for fourth place on the first of the Bajas, the Saudi driver finishing 14min 48sec behind his winning Toyota team-mate. Khalifa Al Attiyah, the brother of overall event winner Nasser, was third in the category but technical issues thwarted Lorenco Rosa. (QNA)