The third leg of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge provided yet another tough encounter for the crews, but second fastest through the longest selective section of the event was enough for Stéphane and Andrea Peterhansel to extend their lead. The French/German husband and wife pairing now head Bernhard Ten Brinke and Tom Colsoul by four minutes and 23 seconds with Khalid Al Qassimi and Xavier Panseri maintaining third, a mere 13 seconds further adrift.

The middle leg of the event, the second round of the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies, was billed to be one of the toughest but after the sandstorms of the previous days, the 297.97 kilometre section proved far more enjoyable as the crews powered over the fast tracks and dramatic dunes.

Peterhansel started the day with a two minute and 26 second advantage and maintained a hot pace to finish second fastest after nearly four hours of flat-out driving, seeing him and Andrea extend their lead with two days remaining. “It was a day with big challenges but we made no navigation mistakes. Maybe only the air pressures were not great,” said Stéphane. “Khalid [Al Qassimi] opened 80% of the route with really good lines, so did a great job for us.”

Ten Brinke and Colsoul had a dramatic day but the Dutch/Belgian pairing still finished the section fourth, just over four minutes adrift. “At the start we were quite fast and drove behind Jakub [Przygonski] for a while,” said Ten Brinke. “Then on a long fast straight the left rear tyre exploded. Another 10 kilometres later, another tyre exploded. But we’re still in the game and had a nice day, and much better without the wind.”

Khalid Al Qassimi and Xavier Panseri - fighting for second position - powered their Peugeot 3008 DKR through the stage in third position to maintain the same position in the overall standings. They are only a mere 13 seconds behind Ten Brinke. “It was quite tricky but there were a lot of nice places with good speed and tracks, not just dunes,” commented the Emirati. “We opened the road for a lot of the stage, but we had no problems.”

Jakub Przygonski’s fastest time saw him close the gap to Al Qassimi and the Pole, co-driven by Timo Gottschalk, is now under two minutes further behind in fourth. “We caught Khalid and Stéphane in the middle of the stage and the three of us were in a group together,” said the reigning FIA World Cup champion. “It was a good day, better than yesterday’s toughest leg with the lack of visibility.”

Martin Prokop has dropped further back in fifth position after losing six minutes to Przygonski in the section. “We didn’t have good speed. We didn’t make mistakes but I just didn’t have the feeling,” said the Czech driver who continues to suffer with motion sickness. “We lost a lot of time with no rhythm in the longest stage of the event, it wasn’t the best driving and I’m disappointed. We’ll try again tomorrow but it’s not a good place to be at the mid-point of the event.”

The Toyota Hilux crew of Aron Domzala and Maciej Marton moved ahead of Vladimir Vasilyev and Konstantin Zhiltsov into sixth, despite getting stuck in the sand. “We also then ended up in a hole and damaged the front left of the car,” said the Pole who enjoyed a great drive alongside Vasilyev. The Russian however lost over 30 minutes to the front-runners, also stuck in the sand, and he drops to seventh. “Not such a good start today,” he commented. “With Yazeed out near the beginning we were leading the cars and having to make the tracks which is never easy and we eventually got stuck in a deep bowl. Cyril helped tow us out, we're very thankful to them; if it wasn't for them we'd still be in there!”

Casey Currie and rival Reinaldo Varela maintained their positions in the top 10 and lead the T3 category in first and second respectively in their Can Am Mavericks. They are now split by one minute and 10 seconds going into the penultimate leg tomorrow.

After losing hours yesterday, Cyril Despres and Daniel Oliveras round out the top 10; the French/Spanish pairing sixth through today’s stage on their first event together. “It was certainly less complicated than yesterday!” said Despres. “The tyre came off the rim and it destroyed our race. The jack was damaged, it lost oil and then we lost the steering damper; it was so disappointing. Today has been enjoyable but there’s not much to play for now.”

After setting yesterday’s pace and taking the stage win, Yazeed Al Rajhi and Dirk Von Zitzewitz were forced to retire with unconfirmed engine or exhaust problems and it is yet to be decided if they will restart tomorrow.

Qatari driver Mohammed Al Meer is firmly on course to capture the T2 production class title with two stages remaining after his rivals amassed massive penalties. Partnered by Russian co-driver Alexey Kuzmich, Al Meer needs only to avoid a major misfortune over the next 48 hours to ensure he celebrates at the Yas Marina Circuit finish on Thursday. Ibrahim Al Muhana once again completed the leg in his T4 Mercedes Unimog Truck.

The penultimate leg of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge is the second longest stage of the event at 286.10 kilometres.

Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge – Provisional results after Leg 3 (16:30 hrs local)

Jakub Przygonski/Timo Gottschalk took the stage win for MINI

Bernhard Ten Brinke/Tom Colsoul fourth through today’s stage

Khalid Al Qassimi/Xavier Panseri fighting for second overall

Photos: RallyZone