Adel Hussein Abdulla under pressure to stay on course for Baja Poland finish

SZCZECIN, Poland: Nissan’s Adel Hussein Abdulla faces a race against time to stay in contention for any FIA T2 Championship points after a suspension bracket broke on his Nissan Patrol on the second stage of Columna Medica Baja Poland, round seven of the FIA World Cup for CrossCountry Rallies, on Saturday morning.

The Qatari and French navigator JeanMichel Polato were not able to complete the first of two passes through a demanding 176.33km selective section in a giant military area at Drawsko Pomorskie and stay in contention for points in the category for Series Production Cross-Country Vehicles.

They are running a Nissan Patrol with support from Nissan Middle East and the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) and found themselves down in eighth position after penalties were added to their time for not completing the stage. Adel Hussein Abdulla’s TOK Sport team hopes to repair the Nissan in time for the Qatari to make up lost ground over four shorter stages on Sunday.

Poland’s Robert Kufel, driving a Nissan Navara, held a lead of 1min 28sec over series leader Yasir Saeidan after the second stage on Saturday.

“We stopped completely in the stage,” said Adel Hussein. “20km after the start of the stage, I thought there was a problem with the rear bumper. My rhythm was very good and I caught four cars and was heading for a very good position. But then, at kilometer 115, I started to hear something from the rear of the car and I thought it was the bumper. Because of the nature of the stages, it is very narrow and twisty. But the suspension cylinder bracket broke and all the oil went out between the suspension arm and the wheel. I was forced to stop after 135km.

“I had taken things easy in the opening stage on Friday evening. This is a long event, maybe the toughest of the Bajas. But we will see if we can challenge hard on Sunday to make up some of the time.”

Adel faced one of the most impressive fields of T2 drivers this season, with several talented Polish p pilots j joiningg the bat- tle for honors and threatening to take valuable championship points off the series regulars.

The competitive action got underway with a muddy and rutted super special stageg of 7.08km at the militarised area, , near Szczecin, on Friday evening. Saiedan headed Kufel by 1.4 seconds to take the T2 lead and Adel Hussein settled into sixth place, a mere 20.6 seconds behind the leader.

Teams tackled two runs of 176.33km through a demanding selective section in the military area around Drawsko Pomorskie on Saturday. Kufel was the quickest of the T2 runners through the opener and reached the midday break in Szczecin with a lead of 1min 28sec over Saeidan.

The event concludes n Sunday with Adel and his rivals tackling repeat runs through two shorter stages of 30.66km and 17.68km. The ceremonial finish is then set for 14.30hrs (local time) in the Szczecin Rally Park.

2016 Columna Medica Baja Poland – positions after SS2 (T2 class):