Qatar’s Adel Abdulla claimed the fastest time in the T2 category on the 287.92 km SS02 "Nissan" of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge through the deserts of Liwa on Monday. The Qatari began the day 30:33 minutes behind Saudi Arabian rival Ahmed Shegawi in his rented Nissan Safari Y61 and he and navigator Nasser Al-Kuwari reduced that gap to 29:24 mins after crossing the dunes of the Rub Al-Khali in a time of 05:35:43 hours, despite losing over 10 minutes stuck at the top of a sand dune near the finish.

"Today we decided to push more than yesterday," said Abdulla in the Finish. "This car is completely different to my car. I learned a lot about this car yesterday. We caught the leader (Ahmed Shegawi) and we passed him and we pushed more and more. But this stage is unbelievably difficult for our cars, as a T2. We passed many difficult places, you cannot believe."

"We were, perhaps, leading by 15 minutes but, in the last 30 km, I got stuck in the top of a sand dune. It was my mistake. I did not take the right gear and we spent maybe 10 or 15 minutes getting the car out. The leader then came and passed us."

"We got going again and he stopped again and we pushed and passed him again. We managed to take one minute from him and we will now be in front of him in the stage for Tuesday. This is a good thing. There are still three days to go and I am sure the next one will be very hard. I hope to close the gap soon."

Russia’s Yuliya Khegay-Migunova in her T2-Toyota Land Cruiser and Romania’s Claudio Laurentiu Barbu in his T2-Nissan Navara lost considerable time in the sand dunes and slipped behind further behind their T2 rivals, with the latter stopping close to the stage start and the Russian incurring time penalties after the previous stage.

Cars Stage Provisional positions SS02 Nissan Stage

01) Prokop / Pabiska (CZE/CZE) I Ford F-150 Evo I 03:55:15 I 00:00:00
02) Al Qassimi / Panseri (ARE/FRA) I Peugeot 3008 DKR I 04:09:02 I 00:13:48
03) Despres / Ravussin (FRA/CHE) I SMG 2Wheels Buggy I 04:11:40 I 00:16:25
04) Przygonski / Colsoul (POL/BEL) I X-raid Mini I 04:15:07 I 00:19:52
05) Seaidan / Kuzmich (SAU/RUS) I Overdrive Toyota I 04:18:13 I 00:22:58
06) Olholm / Moscatt (AUS/AUS) I Century Buggy I 04:27:52 I 00:32:37
07) Schott / Fiuza (DEU/POR) I X-raid Mini I 04:29:34 I 00:34:19
08) Vasilyev / Zhiltsov (RUS/RUS) I X-raid Mini I 04:36:47 I 00:41:32
09) Al Helei / Al Kendi (ARE/ARE) I Nissan Patrol Pickup I 04:55:11 I 00:59:56
10) Alferaihi / Alsanad (SAU/SAU) I Nissan Patrol Pickup I 04:57:17 I 01:02:02

Cars Overall Provisional positions after SS02 Nissan Stage

01) Prokop / Pabiska (CZE/CZE) I Ford F-150 Evo I 07:19:06 I 00:00:00
02) Przygonski / Colsoul (POL/BEL) I X-raid Mini I 07:29:37 I 00:10:30
03) Al Qassimi / Panseri (ARE/FRA) I Peugeot 3008 DKR I 07:31:01 I 00:11:54
04) Seaidan / Kuzmich (SAU/RUS) I Overdrive Toyota I 07:34:31 I 00:15:24
05) Despres / Ravussin (FRA/CHE) I SMG 2Wheels Buggy I 07:38:23 I 00:19:16
06) Vasilyev / Zhiltsov (RUS/RUS) I X-raid Mini I 08:00:56 I 00:41:49
07) Al Helei / Al Kendi (ARE/ARE) I Nissan Patrol Pickup I 08:36:47 I 01:17:40
08) Schott / Fiuza (DEU/POR) I X-raid Mini I 08:51:56 I 01:32:49
09) Amos / Palmeiro (ITA/POR) I X-raid Mini I 09:02:43 I 01:43:36
10) Marsh / Greyling (ZAF/ZAF) I Red Lined Nissan I 09:07:17 I 01:48:10



Photos: Adel Abdulla Team

ABU DHABI DESERT CHALLENGE

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