Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah celebrates his win in the 2015 Hungarian Baja yesterday; (right) Bernhard Ten Brinke finished second overall.

Agencies/Veszprem, Hungary

Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah won the Hungarian Baja in Veszprem yesterday to take the overall lead of the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies from Overdrive Racing driver Vladimir Vasilyev.
This was the Qatari driver’s record third win in the event.
Al-Attiyah, driving a Mini All4 Racing, finished ahead of Overdrive Racing’s Dutchman Bernhard Ten Brinke and Belgian navigator Tom Colsoul in the three-day Hungarian Baja event, round seven of the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies.
Czech-Polish duo of Miroslav Zapletal and Maciej Marton finished third in their Hummer H3 EVO VII.
While the 2015 Dakar Rally champion won by a comfortable 14 minute 48 seconds margin, the victory, according to him, was by no means an easy one.
“A victory here was a very important one, so we tried to give our best from the beginning of the race. We had an advantage on Sunday, so we did not have to take risks. I am glad that we have won and we are leading the World Cup. I enjoyed this not so easy race again. If it depends on me, I will definitely come back next year, because the stages and the organisation are also good,” the two-time Dakar winner said.
With al-Attiyah comfortably ahead, the fight for the second place was the highlight of the final day. Zapletal had a four-minute advantage at the start of the final day but Ten Brinke decided to throw caution to the wind and flew through the final day to take the second place.
Poland’s Marek Dabrowski and Jacek Czachor crewed the Team Orlen-backed Toyota and were well positioned until electrical problems cost them their place inside the top five on the second of Saturday’s timed stages.
“I have mixed feelings about the weekend, but am delighted that Bernhard (Ten Brinke) was able to fight back from a brake disc problem and regain second place with the fastest time on the last stage,” said Overdrive Racing’s team director Jean-Marc Fortin. “Marek’s (Dabrowski) retirement was disappointing. We will find the problem and make sure that everything is fine for the next race.
“Nasser has a nine point lead now in the FIA World Cup because Vladimir (Vasilyev) was forced to miss this race. That is a bit annoying. It would have been nice if he could have taken part here and scored points. But he’s back on the next one and the title race is still wide open.”
Al-Attiyah set the quickest time through the 2.5km super special stage in Veszprém on Friday evening, the Qatari beating Overdrive Racing’s Ten Brinke by just one second on the opening timed test being organised by the Garzone Racing Organisation Promotion Limited.
Ten Brinke was first on the road into the opening selective section on Saturday and the Dutchman carded a time of 2hr 06min 39sec on the split stage and that was sufficient to retain his second position behind al-Attiyah. Dabrowski was third quickest, but Munk went off the road and was not able to finish the stage.
Ten Brinke was sixth quickest on the second timed stage of the day after damaging a brake disc. Electrical problems accounted for Dabrowski on the second section of the special, after the Pole had recorded the fifth quickest time through the shorter opening part. Ten Brinke reached the overnight halt in third, behind al-Attiyah and Miroslav Zapletal. After time penalties had been imposed, Munk was classified in 26th.
Al-Attiyah stayed out of trouble on the final stage on Sunday morning and the Qatari secured the overall win and gained the outright lead in the FIA World Cup from the absent Vasilyev.
The Qatari-Jordanian duo of Sheikh Hamad bin Eid al-Thani and Ferras Alouh Allowh finished 10th overall but second in the T2.1 category in their Ford Raptor. They finished 7 minutes 44 seconds behind the Kazakh team of Denis Berezovskiy and Ignat Falkov, who won the T2.1 category and finished 9th overall.

Final positions:
1. Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Mini All4 Racing 6hr 19min 42sec
2. Bernhard Ten Brinke (NED)/Tom Colsoul (BEL) Overdrive Toyota Hilux 6hr 34min 30sec
3. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Maciej Marton (POL) Hummer H3 6hr 35min 31sec
4. Erik Korda (HUN)/Attila Csató (HUN) Mitsubishi HRX Ford 6hr 47min 14sec
5. Károly Fazekas (HUN)/László Szenáki (HUN) BMW X5 RR 6hr 47min 55sec