MEDIA INFORMATION
Baja Aragon Spain
FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, round 6
July 24-26, 2015
For immediate release
Saturday, July 25th, 2015
EMIL KHNEISSER CLIMBS TO THIRD IN T2 AT BAJA SPAIN
ARAGON IN HIS NISSAN MIDDLE EAST-BACKED PATROL
· Denis Berezovskiy snatches T2 advantage after second special stage
TERUEL (SPAIN): Abu Dhabi-based Lebanese driver Emil Khneisser maintained an excellent pace through the second day of Baja Spain Aragon, as he continues in his quest to win the T2 World Championship, held in conjunction with the 2015 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies.
Running with support for his Nissan Patrol from Nissan Middle East, Khneisser began the second and longest of the three days of Spain’s premier cross-country rally from fifth position in the T2 category for series production cross-country vehicles and climbed to third place with the third quickest time.
First on the agenda for Khneisser and his Russian navigator Alexsei Kuzmich was the challenging second stage of 152.20km, which ran over narrow and dusty rural tracks through the heart of Aragon in punishing heat between Calamocha and Calatayud.
While a battle developed at the head of the field between Spain’s Joan Roma and Finland’s Mikko Hirvonen, Khneisser’s arch rival Denis Berezovskiy set the quickest time amongst the T2 runners. His time of 2hrs 24min 09sec was enough to claim the outright T2 lead heading into the second of the day’s longer 305.56km specials between Calatayud and Teruel.
Elvis Borsoi finished the special in second place and a time of 2hrs 29min 59sec was sufficient for Khneisser to climb into third place in the T2 standings. Latvian Aldis Vilcans had led overnight but dropped over 10 minutes to the Nissan Patrol driver and slipped down the rankings.
“The stages have been as I expected, very dusty and slippery,” said Khneisser. “It encourages you to push but, at the same time, you need a long term plan and a strategy to stay out of trouble. I don’t want to take any risks and I want to stay inside the stage lines. My main target is to finish the Baja ahead of my main rival Denis Berezovskiy. I will try to out some cars between me and him over the last two stages.”
Baja Spain Aragon draws to a conclusion on Sunday with a fourth special stage of 181.11km between Calamocha and Teruel and this precedes the official finish ceremony in the Spanish town.
Ends