Al Attiyah wins Saudi Baja-hail, Al Balooshi bags motorcycle class
Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al Attiyah and Emirati rider Mohammed al Balooshi confirmed victories in the car and motorcycle categories at the 2023 Saudi Baja-hail on Saturday.
The overnight leading Toyota Hilux star and his French co-driver Mathieu Baumel were fastest on the second 184km selective section on a chilly Saturday morning and sealed victory by the winning margin of 15min 19sec on the opening round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-country Bajas.
Al Balooshi came home in fifth place on the day’s motorcycle stage – with the day’s win falling to Canada’s Jonathan Finn – but the MX Ride Dubai rider had done enough to clinch the win on the opening round of the FIM Bajas World Cup by 21min 09sec.
Saudi rider Haitham al Tuwaijri overhauled first day leader Abdulaziz Ahli to snatch quad success, while Saudi Can-am driver Saleh al Saif won the FIA T3 section for lightweight prototype vehicles and young Spaniard Pau Navarro prevailed in the FIA T4 class.
Al Attiyah had taken a 7min 42sec lead into the final day, once a series of time penalties had been imposed on several of his rivals, and the Toyota driver won the second stage by 5min 27sec to continue his dominant start to the season in the cross-country rallying discipline and follow up a fifth Dakar triumph with more Saudi success.
Al Attiyah said: “This is a good start. We were happy to compete here and to win here another time. The target now is Abu Dhabi, where we will face Loeb and the Audis. All good over the last two days, no problems.”