From the hundredth kilometer of the third stage, Mirka's clutch started to get angry. He was trying to adjust his ride to be as economical as possible. Unfortunately, after another 80 kilometers, the situation was so bad that he had to drive off the dunes onto the road and carefully drive to the bivouac. Because they didn't complete all the points with Maciek, they received an 11-hour penalty and dropped to 26th place overall. "The mood in the team is not very happy, but I decided to keep fighting. Péťa Zábranský replaced the clutch and our crew will start from the back positions tomorrow. We have a new car that we need to test and this race is one of the toughest in the World Cup. This is where defects become apparent that we would not have detected at a smaller plant. We will drive further and see how the car will work. If there are no more problems, we will at least enjoy driving in a wonderful environment. There are huge dune fields here and riding them is definitely worth the effort.” That was Mirko's summary of the day. This stage was won by Nasser Al-Attiyah , with Vladimir Vasilyev second and Al Qassimi third.
The fourth stage was the most dramatic day of the race. The helicopter had to transport six bikers, one navigator and one driver to the bivouac. Everyone was so dehydrated they collapsed on the track. The desert turned into a hell with fifty degree heat, where everything was intensively covered by wind-driven sand. In such difficult conditions, the riders made mistakes and the technology was out of service. Mirek and Maciek started from the eleventh position. A few kilometers further on, they caught up with a Polaris driven by a local racer and kept close behind him. They chose a slightly different route than the others, because there was free navigation in a section of about 60 kilometers. Thanks to this, they overtook Orlando Terranova , who started ahead of them. The only problem came about 50 kilometers before the finish when they got stuck on top of a dune and had to dig out their car. Nazareno Lopez also crashed in the same place, and immediately Polish competitor Adam Malysz crashed into him with his Mini . He damaged Lopez's front wheel and ended up on the roof himself. Stephan Schott did the same with another Mini. Another Pole, Marko Dabrowski , ran out of gas before the end of the RZ, he was helped by a motorcyclist who had a supply of fuel. Bad luck did not escape the home favorites either. Al Qassimi was stopped by a gearbox failure and navigator Yahii Al Helei suffered a back injury after the car hit hard and had to be airlifted to hospital. Our crew finished in 7th place and advanced to 22nd place overall. Nasser Al-Attiyah won the stage again, Vladimir Vasilyev was second and Erik Van Loon was third.
The final stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge 2015 has been canceled due to a severe sandstorm. During the morning, all participants moved to Abu Dhabi. The afternoon ceremonial crossing over the ramp was also canceled because the city is also full of dust and staying outside for a long time is very unpleasant. In the evening, there will be an awards ceremony and dinner at the Yas Marina Circuit . One race is over and we can look forward to the next one.
Nasser Al-Attiyah , originally listed as the winner of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge , was disqualified after the final technical inspection. The reason was exceeding the value of the maximum permissible lift height on the bike. The official winners were Vladimir Vasilyev and Konstantin Zhiltsov in a Mini car. Mirek Zapletal and Maciek Marton took 18th place. The winner in the Moto – Quad category was Marc Coma .
Source: Offroadsport
