After joining TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, Fernando Alonso seems to be enjoying much better times than when he was racing in Formula 1. Recently, he achieved his first-ever rally raid podium with the team after a solid performance at the 2019 Al Ula-Neom Cross-Country Rally in Saudi Arabia.
In just their third rally raid competition together, Fernando and navigator, Marc Coma, took home the third-place trophy for the first time since the Spanish duo started their preparations towards the 2020 Dakar Rally just over 2 months ago.
The first 2 of 4 stages took place near the northwestern city of Al Ula which featured two loops of approximately 220 kms each day on mixed terrain of open desert, sand and stone strewn sections, and rocky paths. For Fernando and Marc, this event represented a new challenge of competing on unfamiliar terrain against a field of local rally raid specialists who had more experience.
Nevertheless, the Spanish duo brought their Toyota Hilux home in fourth place after the first stage after negotiating through the dust kicked up by frontrunners, trailing the leader by just 7 minutes 24 seconds. As their Hilux was brand new – only 20 kms on the clock – when they arrived in Saudi Arabia, Fernando elected to take a zero-risk approach during the opening stage by not pushing the vehicle too hard.
After a largely clean run on a route similar to that of the previous day and as they pushed to reduce the overall gap, they picked up a puncture towards the closing part of the stage which was made up of rocky paths. The pair lost approximately 2 minutes 30 seconds to replace the flat tyre, which resulted in an additional 7 minutes 35 seconds of deficit to the leader while maintaining a solid fourth place overall.
The final 2 stages of the event took place near the new city of Neom, on the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea, approximately 460 kms northwest of Al Ula. This new and unfamiliar terrain and conditions included areas of tricky navigation which pushed competitors to their limits.
Despite the challenges, the duo showed strong pace over the course of the penultimate stage to bring their Hilux back home third-fastest overall and losing just 17 seconds to the leader after some 180 kms of high-speed driving.
They started the final day in third place overall following a late retirement overnight and securing the final podium spot with consistent pace throughout the day despite some time loss due to inaccurate road books and tricky navigation. Their split times showed excellent speed, a clear indication that they have already reached a highly competitive level in rally raid despite their relative lack of experience as they transition into new motorsport disciplines.
The 2019 Al Ula-Neom Cross-Country Rally is the last of 3 rally raid competitions for Fernando and Marc in their intensive training programme to prepare for the 2020 Dakar Rally. The Spanish pairing first entered what turned out to be an eventful Lichtenburg 400 in South Africa before tackling the formidable Rally of Morocco. They persevered through a wide variety of challenges and learnt invaluable lessons along the way.
With under two months to go before the Dakar Rally, Fernando and Marc will continue private testing before joining their TOYOTA GAZOO Racing teammates in Saudi Arabia in January 2020 for the Dakar Rally. Yes, you read that right – the next edition of the Dakar Rally will be held in Saudi Arabia which will be the third region used for the legendary event that started in 1979 as the Paris-Dakar Rally. In 2009, security concerns forced the organisers to stop using the route down West Africa and the event shifted to South America, but still retaining the ‘Dakar’ name.
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