The first three days of the 2017 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge are over. After the short Super Special Stage and the first two desert stages Mohamed Abu Issa (QAT) and Xavier Panseri (FRA) hold fourth position in the overall standings, with their MINI ALL4 Racing. In addition, the German pairing Stephan Schott / Andreas Schulz and their MINI ALL4 Racing currently hold sixth place. And there still are another three stages to go.
Having finished fourth in the Super Special Stage, Abu Issa had to settle for coming eighth in the first desert stage and consequently had to start into the second stage from seventh position. And now, everything went fine: he and Panseri finished third and gained enough time for leaping up to fourth in the overall standings. ”I made a good start in yesterday’s stage and then I passed the two cars that had started before me. But then I had to act as pathfinder and I made a stupid mistake. I got stuck on a camel-grass hill and therefore lost more than 20 minutes. Today, I encountered problems in the early stages as the dunes were difficult and had sharp edges. In the second part we really went for it to finish third, in the end. The MINI is running really well and I’m looking forward to the coming three days.”
Schott also started into the ADDC with a top-10 result by finishing ninth in the SSS. He also finished ninth in the first special stage and moved up to eighth in the overall standings. In the second special stage, the German also worked his way up: he finished sixth and now also holds sixth place in the overall standings.
The forthcoming three stages mainly feature sand in dunes. On Thursday, the rally ends with the crossing of the finish podium in Abu Dhabi City.
ADDC 2017 Overall result after SS2:
1. N. Al-Attiyah (QAT) / M. Baumel (MCO) – Toyota – 7h 18m 37s
2. SH. K. Al-Quassimi (UAE) / K. Al-Kendi (UAE) – Peugeot – 7h 41m 40s
3. M. Prokop (CZE) / J. Tomanek (FIN) – Ford – 8h 15m 42s
4. M. Abu Issa (QAT) / X. Panseri (FRA) – MINI ALL4 Racing – 8h 20m 53s
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6. S. Schott (GER) / A. Schulz (GER) – MINI ALL4 Racing – 9h 04m 23s
ADDC 2017 Result SS2:
1. N. Al-Attiyah (QAT) / M. Baumel (MCO) – Toyota – 4h 02m 34s
2. SH. K. Al-Quassimi (UAE) / K. Al-Kendi (UAE) – Peugeot – 4h 14m 02s
3. M. Abu Issa (QAT) / X. Panseri (FRA) – MINI ALL4 Racing – 4h 21m 40s
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7. S. Schott (GER) / A. Schulz (GER) – MINI ALL4 Racing – 4h 59m 31s
