Qatar's Nasser Al Attiyah finished second in the Baqqa selective section of Hail Baja 2 on Tuesday.
The triple Dakar winners and his French co-driver Matthieu Baumel continued the fight for supremacy that they had begun at the fourth round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas last weekend. The Spaniard and co-driver Lucas Cruz moved in front of their rival after around one third of the day's 311.57km stage - after the Toyota Hilux driver stopped to change a puncture - and went on to win the special by 2min 20sec.
"Today was a good run but we had two flat tyres (one wheel off rim) and we stopped and we changed," said Al Attiyah. "We lose more than four minutes. After that, we came to the finish and we are only 2min 20sec to Carlos. It is okay. Today we tested the new tyres for Dakar. We need to have more experience of these tyres."
On Wednesday, competitors will tackle a shorter stage of 180.29km to draw a curtain on the 2020 FIA Baja series. Ater a liaison section of 108.38km, the first FIA car is due to start the section at 10.00hrs from Dlehan, to the west of Hail, on a route that winds its way through the desert before looping back to finish 58.63km from the city. (QNA)
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