Al-Attiyah’s sanction follows some controversy over the absence of a penalty imposed on Bahrain Raid Xtreme on Monday after a spare tyre was lost by Sebastien Loeb. But today, the sporting stewards decided that a time penalty was fit for Al-Attiyah’s infraction.
As seen by officials in a video published on social media, Al-Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel did not have their seat belts and Front Head Restraint fastened properly for “approximately 1:45 minutes” while the car was in motion.
The video shows Al-Attiyah stopping on Stage 8 to change a tyre, overlayed with Bahrain Raid Xtreme rival Loeb. The stewards agreed that the time that three-time Dakar winner Al-Attiyah and his co-driver took to get out and return to their Toyota’s cockpit was “too short to properly fasten the crews’ seatbelts”. They asked to review the organiser’s own onboard cameras to check the incident.
The stewards reported that “after boarding the vehicle, the driver engaged the gear…
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