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Qatar Cross Country VIDEO: Howie to stay in Hospital with broken vertebrae

lang Editor: Hansy Schekahn lang Photos: See credits under article   lang In database since April 20, 2018

It was a day of high drama in the desert near the Qatari capital of Doha, as Toyota Gazoo Racing SA continued their quest for victory. Unfortunately, Giniel de Villiers and co-driver Robert Howie were forced to retire from the race, after they hit a ditch just 30 km into the 350 km-long Stage 2, and landed hard. The Toyota Hilux survived the impact unscathed, as did the driver - but Howie injured his back and was unable to continue.

Howie was quickly transported to a hospital in the Qatari capital for X-Rays and a CT scan. The latter revealed four compression fractures in his thoracic vertebrae, though three of them are likely old injuries. The fourth fracture is new, and the doctors have decided to keep him in hospital for two days in order to ensure that there are no complications.

"It was a very unfortunate event," said Toyota Gazoo Racing SA Team Principal Glyn Hall. "But sometimes a hard landing can wreak havoc with the crew, and in this case Rob ended up in immense pain. This means a disappointing end to Giniel and Rob's race, which is extremely frustrating for all of us. With that said, we are thankful that Rob isn't in any danger."

Teammates Nasser Al Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel, in the meantime, made light work of the tricky stage. The pair powered their Toyota Gazoo Racing SA Hilux to a comprehensive second place behind Jakub Przygonski and Tom Colsoul in the X-Raid Mini. Their result on Stage 2 of the 5-stage event puts Al Attiyah / Baumel also second of the event, but with another 1,040 km to go, a lot can still happen.

"We are very happy with our performance so far," said Al Attiyah after returning to the bivouac. "The car has also been extremely good in the rough conditions, and we are confident that we'll continue our good run going forward."

Qatar Cross Country Rally Results SS01(2) CARS Top 10

01) Przygonski, Jakub / Colsoul, Tom I X-raid Mini I 03:50:29 I 00:00:00
02) Al Attiyah, Nasser / Baumel, Matthieu I Toyota Hilux I 03:51:28 I 00:00:59
03) Van Loon, Erik / Rosegaar, Wouter I Toyota Hilux I 04:07:10 I 00:16:41
04) Vasilyev, Vladimir / Zhiltsov, Konstantin I X-raid Mini I 04:07:25 I 00:16:56
05) Domzala, Aron / Marton, Maciej I Toyota Hilux I 04:14:29 I 00:24:00
06) Seaidan, Yasir / Kuzmich, Alexej I Toyota Hilux I 04:45:11 I 00:54:42
07) Prokop, Martin / Pabiska, David I Ford F-150 Evo I 04:46:34 I 00:56:05
08) Abdulla, Adel / Al-Kuwari, Nasser I Nissan Patrol Y62 I 05:53:15 I 02:02:46
09) Al Shegawi, Ahmed / Kuzmich, Alexej I Nissan Patrol Y61 I 06:38:48 I 02:48:19
10) De Villiers, Giniel / Howie, Robert I Toyota Hilux I 100:00:00 I 96:09:31

Qatar Cross Country Overall Results after SS01(2) CARS Top 10

01) Przygonski, Jakub / Colsoul, Tom I X-raid Mini I 03:54:48 I 00:00:00
02) Al Attiyah, Nasser / Baumel, Matthieu I Toyota Hilux I 03:55:41 I 00:00:53
03) Vasilyev, Vladimir / Zhiltsov, Konstantin I X-raid Mini I 04:12:00 I 00:17:12
04) Domzala, Aron / Marton, Maciej I Toyota Hilux I 04:18:52 I 00:24:04
05) Seaidan, Yasir / Kuzmich, Alexej I Toyota Hilux I 04:49:40 I 00:54:52
06) Prokop, Martin / Pabiska, David I Ford F-150 Evo I 04:50:58 I 00:56:10
07) Van Loon, Erik / Rosegaar, Wouter I Toyota Hilux I 05:07:10 I 01:12:22
08) Abdulla, Adel / Al-Kuwari, Nasser I Nissan Patrol Y62 I 05:58:33 I 02:03:45
09) Al Shegawi, Ahmed / Kuzmich, Alexej I Nissan Patrol Y61 I 06:44:48 I 02:50:00
10) De Villiers, Giniel / Howie, Rob I Toyota Hilux I 100:04:19 I 96:09:31

Qatar Cross Country Overall Results after SS01(2) SSV ALL

01) Fournier, Claude / Delaunay, Sebastien I Polaris I 05:25:09
02) Pena Campo, Jose Luis / Tornabell, Rafael I Polaris I 06:06:52
03) Cinotto, Michele / Zini, Fulvio I Polaris I 07:56:16
04) Navarro, Santiago / Lopez, Pedro I Yamaha I 100:06:13
 

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Photos: Toyota Gazoo

QATAR CROSS COUNTRY RALLY   QMMF

 

 


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