Nasser Al Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel powered into the lead of Rally Kazakhstan after today’s second selective section, the Toyota Hilux Overdrive crew taking the stage win and a four minute 32 second advantage. Jakub Przygonski and Timo Gottschalk have moved one place up the leaderboard with Yazeed Al Rajhi and Dirk Von Zitzewitz dropping from the overnight lead to third.

Rally Kazakhstan, the third round of the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies, is the longest event in the series and today’s stage was also the longest of the six day rally. An epic 414.22 kilometre section lay in wait, taking the crews from the Kinderly bivouac over a mix of fast tracks and soft dunes at an average speed of more 100kph over nearly four hours of competition.

Al Attiyah, starting second on the road, powered through the section, catching overnight leader Al Rajhi after 150 kilometres before hitting the dunes. The Qatari finished the stage nearly two minutes ahead of his rivals to take the overall lead. “It was not easy navigation but I’m happy we have a good lead,” he said.

From third on the road, MINI driver Przygonski finished the section third and moved up the standings into second, despite a puncture woe. “It was a long stage and five kilometres before the finish we had a puncture and finished on the wheel rim,” said the Polish reigning World Cup champion. “It was not so easy today; the tracks were difficult to drive, but we were quite good in the soft dunes and the navigation was okay.”

Al Rajhi started the day with less than a minute lead and, as a consequence, led the crews into the section in his Hilux Overdrive. It wasn’t an easy ride however and he was fifth fastest through the stage. “We had three flat tyres and drove the last 30 kilometres to the finish with one wheel on the rim,” said the Saudi driver, who ran close to Al Attiyah and Przygonski through the section.

Bernhard Ten Brinke and Tom Colsoul had a great run, second fastest to climb from fifth to fourth. “We had a good day but were running behind Vladimir Vasilyev and in his dust at the 80 kilometre mark,” said Ten Brinke. “We were behind him for the next 60 kilometres but once we got past, the rest of the stage we were running alone. We did a good job today, and no punctures.”

After their problems yesterday, Stéphane and Andrea Peterhansel enjoyed a much better day, the pair fourth through the section to climb from eighth to fifth in their John Cooper Works Buggy. “We had no problems today, but we stopped once because the car jack light came on suggesting there might be a problem, but there wasn’t,” said Stéphane. “It was a fast stage and especially nice in the middle over the dunes and some beautiful white mountains; I have never seen anything like this before and it really was beautiful. The dunes were slow but overall it was a very quick stage averaging over 100kph.”

Russia’s Denis Krotov and Dmytro Tsyro remain sixth ahead of Miroslav Zapletal and Marek Sykora. Andrey Cherednikov and Ignat Falkov continue to fly the flag for their home country, the Kazakhs eighth in a Ford F-150 Evo.

Vladimir Vasilyev and Konstantin Zhiltsov had a disappointing day, the Russians losing over an hour when they were forced to stop and change some suspension parts 170 kilometres into the section. They dropped from fourth to ninth in the international standings but have subsequently withdrawn for personal reasons. Reinaldo Varela and Gustavo Gugelmin round out the top 10 and head the T3 category in their Can Am Maverick. Mohammed Al Meer/Alexey Kuzmich top the T2 standings in a Toyota Landcruiser.

Another 327.47 kilometre section lays in wait for the third leg of Rally Kazakhstan tomorrow.

Rally Kazakhstan – Provisional results after Leg 2 (19:00 hrs local)

Reinaldo Varela/Gustavo Gugelmin head the T3 category