Sam Sunderland in action on the way to a record-breaking stage win on day two of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge
ABU DHABI (UAE). Monday, April 4, 2011: Rider Sam Sunderland of the KTM-UAE Rally Team today broke an Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge record by coming first in Leg 2 of this year’s rally, and, in the process, becoming the youngest ever rider to win a stage. The 21-year-old Briton completed the stage in 4h 10m 15s, more than 13m faster than world champion Marc Coma.
Veteran rally driver Jean-Louis Schlesser on his way to a stage win on day two of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge
In the cars category, Leg 1’s top three drivers maintained their dominance against the rest of the field, though it was France’s Jean-Louis Schlesser who beat Team X-Raid’s Leonid Novitskiy to the finish line on the day, while yesterday’s winner, Stéphane Peterhansel, came home third.
The second stage of this year’s Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, named ADNOC, kicked off 36 kilometres north of Mezaira’a, before heading deep into the famed Empty Quarter desert for 413 kilometres of gruelling cross-country racing.
Sunderland’s outstanding result now puts him up to eighth place overall in the bikes category standings. It will also mean that he will lead the pack from Leg 3’s Tharwaniyah starting point tomorrow.
Sam Sunderland of the KTM-UAE Rally Team
“The fact I came first is awesome,” said Sunderland, who lives in Dubai. “I had a few problems with the bike, and I made a navigational mistake, but overall, it went really well. I had a much better ride than I did yesterday.”
Sunderland completed the ADNOC stage almost perfectly, only suffering a couple of setbacks. One was a small navigational error that sent him two kilometres off-course, though it was small enough to allow him to hold onto his lead.
He admitted that, as a rookie at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, he still had a lot to learn about navigation. “There’s so much going on while you’re out there,” he said. “You’re trying to worry about dune speed, navigation and other competitors. I race motocross normally and, comparatively, this rally is so dangerous, it’s unreal.”
Sunderland’s ADNOC stage today was not made easier by problems with his KTM 450 rally bike, which had, he discovered when reaching the refuel station, been leaking coolant. The bike was easily fixed, and he continued without losing too much time to secure the stage win and break the record.
In the cars category, X-Raid’s two world champions, Peterhansel and Novitskiy battled it out throughout the day, however both drivers got stuck in the sand, allowing Schlesser to beat them to the finish with a time of 4h 30m 29s. The 62-year-old Schlesser, a seasoned Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge racer, has not participated in the rally for a number of years, and was looking to make his mark as an old friend of the competition. His result today has helped him close in on that goal.
Emirati quad biker, Mohammed Al Shamsi on his way to a category win on day two
In the quads category, it was the UAE’s Mohammed Al Shamsi who took the top honours, having beaten yesterday’s favourite, Atif Al Zarouni, by more than 30 minutes. Luis Henderson of Uruguay gained another second place, while Italy’s Stefano Dalla-Valle came in third.
In the trucks category, KAMAZ-Master’s Eduard Nikolav crossed the finish line first, with a time of 7h 00m 1s. He is now leading the trucks category overall.
“What was great about today was that we had the youngest bike rider ever to win a stage,” said Ronan Morgan, clerk of the course. “It was a very difficult day because of the length of the stage, but it went very smoothly.”
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