Qatar Rally: a complicated beginning and a difficult finish for Rafał Sonik

Still air, heat, and treacherous terrain – a day like any other at Sealine Cross-Country Rally. On Thursday, Rafał Sonik set out into this empty and dry landscape as the first quad rider, but it was Ignacio Casale who had a slightly better time at the finish line. ‘I didn’t make any major mistakes, but I know that I could’ve been faster at that last section,’ commented Sonik.

As the organizers promised, the first 50 km of the fourth special stage was very problematic for the participants. ‘Half-way into the stage, I saw bikers catching up with me – and they started the day over a dozen minutes earlier than me. They must’ve made pretty serious mistakes,’ said Rafał Sonik, who’s got his tactics all worked up for such situations. ‘I hesitate several times during each stage here. I prefer to stop, turn around, make sure that I chose the right way. I’d rather lose several dozen seconds than a few minutes or even half an hour.’

This day was truly far from easy. The World Cup leader had problems since the very beginning, to keep Ignacio Casale behind him. ‘In the first part of the stage I cut my rear tire and I had to drive over one hundred kilometres on the mousse, that is on the foam rubber that we fill our tires with next to air. I had problems with turning left, but I thought it’d be better to drive more slowly and replace the wheel at the service point that to lose even more time on an attempt to fix the cut. And it turned out that fixing was impossible,’ commented Sonik.

After replacing the wheel, the quad rider from Kraków dashed towards the finish line. And even though things looked promising initially, he lost a few valuable minutes at the end of the stage. ‘I drove through dunes covered by sand, and navigation was incredibly difficult. Also, I was very tired and found it difficult to focus. I know that I could’ve been faster. Probably this is where Ignacio caught up with me,’ he summarized.

The Chilean won the stage, even though he arrived at the finish line several minutes after Rafał Sonik. The judges gave him back the time he spent on helping a biker who got injured in an accident. And so, he remains the leader of the rally and increased his advantage over the Pole to 20 minutes. Despite that, SuperSonik is still optimistic. ‘I must say that I only begin to like it here at this rally. I guess that if we had three, or four more days, I would navigate better. However, tomorrow is the last stage – and the priority for tomorrow is the points in the World Cup classification,’ ended Sonik.