Russian rolls into top car spot; Coma passes teammate Sunderland on two-wheels

Russian Vladimir Vasilyev took the lead in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge on Monday after defending drivers’ champion Nani Roma of Spain fell from contention after a bout of motion sickness.

Paulo Goncalves jumps a dune during Day 2 of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge on April 7 2014. Goncalves is third in the motorcycle class behind KTM teammates Marc Coma and Sam Sunderland. Courtesy Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge
Powered by automated translation

Russian Vladimir Vasilyev took the lead in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge on Monday after defending drivers' champion Nani Roma of Spain fell from contention after a bout of motion sickness.

Partnered by Konstantin Zhilstov in a Mini, Vasilyev was fastest on the 269-kilometre Stage 2 and completed it holding a 44 seconds advantage over the Polish crew of Marek Dabrowski and Jacek Czachor in a Toyota Hilux.

Overnight leader Roma, with French co-driver Michel Perin, saw his hopes of back-to-back wins disappear when he fell ill early in the stage, requiring medical attention before continuing and ending the day almost three hours off the pace in his Mini.

“It wasn’t a good day for me,” Roma said. “I just started to get sick from the motion of the dunes before the first passage control and had to stop and get some medical assistance. The doctor gave me a few pills, then I was OK.”

Roma will start today’s Stage 3 in 19th place, 2 hours, 54 minutes and 19 seconds behind Vasilyev. He acknowledged yesterday that his aim was simply to finish the event.

“I have this problem in the Desert Challenge a lot,” he said. “At least the rally raid team is still in a good position. I will just keep on going for the last three legs.”

Vasilyev, who is attempting to become the second Russian driver to win the Desert Challenge, following Leonid Novitskiy in 2010, said: “It was really OK today, despite the dunes being difficult with so many drops that we had to go slower.”

Lying third in the cars category at the end of the leg was Poland’s Adam Malysz, with Czech driver Miroslav Zapletal fourth in a Hummer followed by the UAE’s Yahya Al Helei, who was third fastest on the day in his new Nissan pickup.

“I drove hard today passing seven or so cars, but I hit a ridge hard so my suspension is not good and after that I had to drive slower,” Al Helei said. “This year it is not our rally. The sand is just too hard for us because of the rain.

“If it was soft we would have a better chance.”

In the battle of the bikes, Spain's Marc Coma snatched the lead from his new KTM teammate, Sam Sunderland, to finish the stage with an advantage of 0:1.25 from the Dubai-based English rider.

Seven-times Desert Challenge bikes winner Coma rode alongside Sunderland for much of the stage before moving ahead.

Reigning FIM world champion Paulo Goncalves from Portugal was left almost three minutes further adrift.

Sunderland, who finished third last year, said: “It was my job to open the piste today and I did that well until the first passage control. Then I missed a hop and I hurt my wrist a little bit after that, but it was OK.

“Marc took over at the refuel and passed me at the finish. I’m feeling mentally very tired right now, but overall it was another good day.”

Follow us on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE