Saudi Arabian driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi and French navigator Matthieu Baumel extended their overall lead in the Saudi Arabian Ha'il Baja to 6m 34.3s after the second 304.5km selective section through the remote An-Nafud desert Wednesday. The Mitsubishi Lancer crew were pushed hard through the opening kilometers of the demanding selective section by an in-form Abdullah Bakhashab and his Lebanese co-driver Joseph Matar, but the Toyota crew fell back over the later faster kilometers but maintained a comfortable second overall. “It was a superb and really enjoyable stage,” said Al-Rajhi. “But we had a puncture and lost some time changing the wheel. Still, we are in a good position for the final stage.” “I had a good strategy for the first part of the stage and it was going very well,” said Bakhashab. “But we lost a lot of time over the faster terrain in the second part and that was disappointing.” The UAE's Raed Baker and Nabil Ahmadi finished the section in a solid third overall in their Mitsubishi L200 to maintain the final podium position. Qatar's Sheikh Hamed Bin Eid Al-Thani and his Dubai-based co-driver Yousef Mohammed were fourth. The Emirati duo of Abdullah Al-Herais and Yayha Al-Helai held sixth and eighth in a pair of T2 Nissan Patrols and were sandwiched between fifth-placed Saudi driver Mtair Al-Shammeri and local rival Sami Al-Shammeri in seventh. Eight cars were entered in the Ha'il National Rally that was running behind the international field. Saudi Arabia's Mohammed Al-Nashmi (Nissan) and Ahmed Al-Shagawi (Nissan) were the pacesetters to the refuelling point Wednesday afternoon. Al-Helai was awarded a one-minute penalty for jumping the start of the super special stage Tuesday afternoon and slipped to 25th overall at the restart Wednesday morning. But one minute was of little consequence once the cars entered the daunting An-Nafud desert and the Emirati was moved up the restart order on safety grounds in any case. Rally officials warned competitors that the opening kilometers would be very difficult, the route offering narrow and twisty undulating tracks between sand dunes. The dunes then gave way to a series of graded tracks with smooth surfaces to the second checkpoint, where the route headed through a series of stunning dunes. Al-Rajhi began to pull away from Bakhashab as the duo neared Al-Ghudhat, the Saudi benefiting from the higher top speed of his Mitsubishi Lancer over the faster and more defined tracks. The Saudi punctured and had trouble changing the wheel, but still managed to maintain his first position on the road and extend his overall advantage. This year's Saudi Arabian Ha'il Baja is running under the patronage of Prince Saud Bin Abdul Mohsen Bin Abdul Aziz, Governor of Ha'il, President of the Supreme Commission for Ha'il Development and the Head of the Supreme Commission of the Ha'il Rally. Thursday crews tackle the 187.7km third selective section through the An-Nafud desert from 09.00hrs. The day starts with a 55km road liaison to the start of the stage and an 118.90km transfer returns teams to Maghwat to prepare for the ceremonial finish from 17.10hrs. __
