Saudi Arabian driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi and his French navigator Matthieu Baumel claimed a second successive victory in the Saudi Arabian Ha'il Baja, after comfortably setting the fastest time on the 187.7km third selective section through the An-Nafud Desert Thursday. The Mitsubishi Lancer crew began the day with a 6m 34s advantage over Abdullah Bakhashab and Joseph Matar and managed to stay ahead of the Toyota FJ Cruiser Proto crew over the third day's challenging desert route to the south and west of Ha'il to record a winning margin of 32m 54.3s when Bakhashab suffered clutch problems near the end. The win gave Al-Rajhi an unofficial four-point lead after Round One of the 2010 FIA Cup for Cross-Country Bajas, which resumes with the Northern Forest Rally in Russia in less than two weeks' time. Baumel also confirmed his hat trick of Ha'il Baja wins, after guiding Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah to win in 2008 with the BMW X-raid team and Al-Rajhi with an Overdrive Nissan Pick-Up last year. The UAE's Raed Baker and Nabil Ahmadi set the second fastest time of the day and managed to fend off a strong Saudi challenge over the closing kilometers to confirm the final podium place in their Mitsubishi L200. Mtair and Motaib Al-Shammeri finished fourth overall in their Toyota Land Cruiser and Farhan Al-Galeb and Tariq Ramah rounded off the top five in a Nissan. Sami and Abdullah Al-Shammeri claimed win in the T2 showroom category with their Bakhashab Isuzu Team D-Max. Twenty-five of the original 27 cars entered in the international event were permitted to restart Stage 3, with Majed Al-Ghamdi succumbing to engine problems and Safah Al-Saeedi also falling by the wayside. Emirati Abdullah Al-Herais did not take the restart. Cars that did not complete the full second stage were given a notional time penalty of 10h 15m. It was business as usual at the head of the field through the opening kilometers over a compacted surface out of Qana, with Al-Rajhi heading Bakhashab. Mtair Al-Shammeri began an early charge and managed to pass Baker and Qatar's Sheikh Hamed Bin Eid Al-Thani to take a virtual third position on the 187.7km stage, where sand became more prevalent on fast, winding tracks to the second safety point. Al-Rajhi was the first to reach the Tawiya checkpoint and was followed by Bakhashab and Al-Shammeri, but Al-Thani was forced to stop around five kilometers after the start with mechanical problems, as Al-Shammeri inherited fourth overall and Al-Herais moved up to fifth. Saudi's Abdullah Al-Dossary and Saleh Al-Saleh were also delayed but managed to continue. Al-Rajhi maintained his advantage over Bakhashab to the Baja checkpoint. Thereafter, crews had to pass rocky sections and rough wadis to arrive at a giant dune with a steep uphill climb. The outright leader continued to pull away from a clutch-troubled Bakhashab as the route turned south towards Mohaffar, while Baker managed to get passed the Al-Shammeri duo to regain third on the stage. But there were no late dramas. This year's Ha'il Baja ran 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. __
