Rally Raid
Cristina Gutiérrez grabs a huge slice of history at Cross-Country World Cup
The record books have been rewritten on the massive dunes of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, as Cristina Gutiérrez collects her first FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies title.
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History has been made on the dunes of Abu Dhabi, as Cristina Gutiérrez became the first-ever female driver to win the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies. The triumph comes off the back of a gruelling season that's seen Gutiérrez and her Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team take on perilous terrain in Europe, Africa and Asia.
Gutiérrez finished the job in style, as she and co-driver François Cazalet took their OT3 race vehicle to a stage win on the final day of competition at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. The points accrued in the dunes of the Empty Quarter gave the duo an unassailable lead in the T3 category of the 2021 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies.
"We are World Champions!" Gutiérrez said at the finish line in Abu Dhabi. "I can’t believe it. After such a hard year I've had, I can't be happier. I have no words."
It's even more history for Gutiérrez, who becomes the first-ever woman to win a World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies title. Earlier this year the Spanish racer had become the first female to win a stage of the Dakar Rally since Jutta Kleinschmidt's last stage win in 2005.
The foundations were laid for Gutiérrez's historical triumph with wins at the first two stops of the World Cup season. An emotionally charged victory in her native Spain at May's Andalucia Rally was followed up with a win at Rally Kazakhstan in June. Things weren't so straightforward for the championship leader, though. She summoned superhuman strength to cross the finish line in Kazakhstan after sustaining three broken vertebrae during the final stage of the rally.
Gutiérrez was transferred directly from the finish line to hospital and it was uncertain whether she would race again this year, but the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team driver was determined to get back as soon as possible. Two months of intense recovery, physiotherapy and doctor's appointments followed, before Gutiérrez was given the green light to return to racing.
More precious championship points were secured at Rallye du Maroc last month, before Gutiérrez and the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team pitched up at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, where another solid performance saw her go clear of her nearest competitor – fellow Spaniard Fernando Alvarez – in the rankings.
At the finish line in Abu Dhabi it was confirmed that Gutiérrez had done enough to be crowned T3 champion of the 2021 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, even with one race of the season still remaining.
Cristina Gutiérrez glides over the dunes in Abu Dhabi
© DPPI/Red Bull Content Pool
Thanks to all the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team and thank you to my co-driver François Cazalet for a great year
Gutierrez and Cazalet were congratulated at the finish line by team-mates Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz, as well as Guillaume De Mevius and Tom Colsoul. These two Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team crews had been running the 2022 spec OT3 in Abu Dhabi and the valuable kilometres both crews managed to bank at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge will be used as part of the team's preparation for the 2022 Dakar Rally, which starts on January 1.
Huge congratulations to Cristina and François, T3 Cross-Country World Champions!
There were further strides taken by Nasser Al-Attiyah in Abu Dhabi, as he chased down a fifth World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies title in the T1 car category. The three-time Dakar winner and his co-driver Mathieu Baumel led their class from start to finish. The points picked up at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge put the Toyota Hilux pairing in pole position to take their own World Cup crown at next month's Hail Rally in Saudi Arabia.
Matthias Walkner had the bike title wrapped up and won again in Abu Dhabi
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The pressure was off Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Matthias Walkner in Abu Dhabi, because he'd already secured his 2021 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship title at the previous round. The 2018 Dakar winner didn't let up on his throttle, though, and closed out his season with another sensational win.
Elsewhere in the bike race it was a tough final stage for GasGas Factory rider Daniel Sanders. Sanders went into the last day fighting for the win, but running out of fuel on the fifth stage saw him forced to settled for 12th overall. Such are the ups and downs of racing thousands of kilometres through the desert.
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