Leeroy scores a third at Qatar Rally
SOUTH African Cross Country champion Leeroy Poulter and navigator Dirk von Zitzewitz narrowly missed out on second overall at the notoriously tough Qatar Cross Country Rally.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing SA team entered the once-off pairing of Poulter and von Zitzewitz (who normally navigates for Giniel de Villiers) in the Qatar event as a test session for the locally-built Hilux ahead of next year’s Dakar Rally. Poulter, who was competing in his first Qatar Rally, entered Saturday’s fifth and final stage in second place behind Toyota team-mates Nasser Al Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel, and if they hadn’t lost time in the dunes, just 10km from the end of the 343km Stage 5, they’d have clinched second overall.
The Mini crew of Jakub Prygonski and Tom Colsoul won the final stage and for it slipped just ahead
of Poulter in the final standings. Al Attiya won his home rally after a total race distance of 1373km, with Prygonski classified in second just over seven minutes behind, and Poulter third a further 28 seconds back.
“Obviously I’m disappointed not to have held onto second place in the overall standings,” said Leeroy after the race. “But some camel grass in the dunes caught us out.
That’s the nature of the game though, and we’ll learn from the experience.”