FRIDAY 7 OCTOBER 2016 21 Rally of Morocco: Nissan’s Mercedes explains why Adel Hussein slips to second The Peninsula OILIBYA RALLY OF MOROCCO 2016 Hamilton’s engine blew out Positions after leg 4 (T2 class) ERFOUD MOROCCO: Nissan’s Adel 1. Yasir Saeidan (SAU)/Alexei Kuzmich (RUS) Hussein Abdulla has it all to do over Toyota Land Cruiser 200 14hr 23min 13sec today’s final special stage if he to 2. Adel Hussein Abdulla (QAT)/Sébastian The Briton aims to clinch victory in the FIA T2 category Delaunay (FRA) Nissan Patrol 14hr 38min at the 2016 OiLibya Rally of Morocco. complete a hat-trick 43sec The Qatari, driving a Nissan 3. Abdullah Saleh (SAU)/Michael Orr (GBR) Patrol with support from Nissan of wins at Suzuka Toyota Land Cruiser 15hr 22min 09sec Middle East, Nissan Qatar and the 4. Nicolas Falloux (FRA)/Antonia de Roissard while team-mate Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Feder- Rosberg eyes ninth ation (QMMF), ceded his overnight (FRA) Toyota Land Cruiser 16hr 24min 22sec lead to arch rival Yasir Saeidan on 5. Mohammed Al Harqan (QAT)/Nasser Al Kuwari victory of the season the demanding loop stage through (QAT) Toyota Land Cruiser 16hr 26min 17sec the Moroccan deserts around the town of Erfoud and trails the series Reuters leader by 15min 30sec heading into Falloux was second and Qatar’s the final day. Mohammed Al-Harqan was third. The Qatari led the category for Adel Hussein reached the stage finish Series Production Cross-Country in fourth in 4hr 45min 02sec. SUZUKA, JAPAN: Mercedes have Vehicles at the eighth round of the “One stage to go now. This stage pinpointed the cause of the engine FIA World Cup for Cross-Country was actually better for me than the blowout that forced Lewis Hamilton Rallies by 2min 09sec at the start of one yesterday. I wasn’t feeling com- to retire while leading the Malaysian the fourth stage – a 319km section fortable during the first 100km. I lost Formula One Grand Prix, and have that featured a wide variety of desert a lot of time in those early kilometres put safeguards in place to avoid a terrain to test man and machine to and then I came close to the dunes repeat heading into this weekend’s the limit. But he and French navi- and it was better. Tomorrow (Friday) race in Japan. gator Sébastien Delaunay lost the is a new day and the last day of the The Briton’s hopes of leapfrog- lead through the opening rocky kil- rally. I will push right to the end to ging fellow Mercedes driver and ometres to the first passage control try and get back my first position,” championship leader Nico Rosberg check point at 58km and were play- Hussein said. in the standings were hit when his Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team’s British driver Lewis Hamilton reacts as his car is engulfed in flames from ing catch up for the rest of the stage The rally concludes with a pun- engine burst into flames with 16 laps until they reached a series of dunes. ishing 230km selective section the rear during the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang, Malaysia on October 2, 2016. remaining. Saeidan crossed the finish line in through the Erg Chebbi today morn- A Mercedes spokesperson said a time of 4hr 29min 39sec to secure ing that precedes the ceremonial the Briton’s engine lost oil pressure, the race at the Sepang circuit as he year,” said Hamilton, who heads into phone. Mercedes has introduced a the T2 lead, Frenchman Nicolas finish in Erfoud today at afternoon. before suffering a “big-end bearing was forced to retire while leading the race aiming to complete a hat- new “conservative” specification of failure” without any warning. comfortably. trick of wins at Suzuka. “I haven’t oil this weekend, among other meas- As a result Hamilton, who added A fuming Hamilton, who is 23 been thinking about the last race.” ures to prevent another failure. three new power units to his pool points behind Rosberg with just five The 31-year-old spent much of Rosberg, aiming for a maiden win of available engines after taking of 21 races remaining, wondered in the news conference on his phone at Suzuka and ninth of the season, multiple grid penalties in August’s the immediate aftermath whether uploading amusing pictures created said he was not concerned about a Belgian Grand Prix, will this week- “the man above or a higher power” of his fellow drivers seated around similar engine problem hobbling his end run the engine he used on his was conspiring to deny him a fourth him, using Snapchat filters. title bid. way to third place in Singapore last title. “Hey man, we’ve been doing this “I also have all the trust in the month. His team-mate Nico Ros- He cut a distracted and with- a long, long time and it’s the same team that they always do their best berg will stick with the power unit drawn figure in yesterday’s news each time so got to keep adding new to make sure problems like that Adel Hussein Abdulla in action on his T2 he used in Malaysia. Hamilton’s title conference at the Suzuka circuit. things to it,” Hamilton said when don’t happen again,” said the Ger- Nissan Patrol in Morocco, yestedray. hopes were dealt a harsh blow in “I feel the same as probably last asked what he was looking at on his man star. Anti-doping system ‘not broken,’ says WADA’s athletes representative AP of failing to act sooner on the Rus- anti-doping system. IOC President sian doping problems. They also Thomas Bach has called for the criticized WADA for releasing inves- entire testing system to be inde- tigator Richard McLaren’s report pendent from sports organizations. LONDON: The head of WADA’s ath- on systematic Russian doping just “We have to be solution focused lete commission contends the global weeks before the Olympics in Rio and can no longer afford to become anti-doping system is not “broken” de Janeiro. subject to the politics, conflicted Wladimir Klitschko (left) of Ukraine defends against Britain’s World heavyweight boxing champion Tyson and laments that politics surround- McLaren’s report led WADA to interests and game-playing that Fury during their WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO title bout in Duesseldorf, Germany in November 28, 2015. ing the Russian doping scandal has call for the exclusion of the entire has held us back for so long,” Scott sown “discord” in the fight against Russian team from the Rio Games. said. performance-enhancing drugs. The IOC rejected the recommenda- With WADA’s future role and Beckie Scott, who chairs the tion, instead asking individual sports status under scrutiny, Scott said Furious Klitschko says Briton Fury is World Anti-Doping Agency ath- federations to determine which Rus- the agency should be given the lete committee, urged all sides on sian athletes could compete. autonomy to effectively monitor Wednesday to put aside their differ- “It is unacceptable that when it compliance with global anti-doping ences and work together to combat comes to clean, fair sport, there is a rules, apply sanctions and serve as dragging boxing ‘through the mud’ “an undeniable threat to the integ- sense of discord when there should the “regulatory body” for anti-dop- rity of sport today.” be harmony,” Scott said. ing efforts around the world. In an op-ed released by the “Almost every day someone Scott also said WADA needs bet- Reuters for this month but postponed again with Wladimir. He blocks the world Montreal-based agency, the former new from the Olympic family takes ter funding. The agency’s annual due to an unspecified medical con- title.” Olympic cross-country skier from to the media with the critical claim budget, covered 50-50 by the dition, with Fury making further Fury has also been charged with Canada noted that WADA “has come that the global anti-doping ‘system Olympic movement and national headlines by telling Rolling Stone an anti-doping rule violation by UK under intense criticism and scru- is broken.’” governments, is about $27m. B E R L I N : Wladimir Klitschko has magazine he had taken to drinking Anti-Doping after a urine sample tiny” in the wake of the allegations “The issue has become so deeply “We need to ask ourselves, what accused world heavyweight cham- and cocaine to deal with depression. from February 2015 - nine months of state-backed doping in Russia. divisive and conflicted among stake- is the cost?” she wrote. “What price pion Tyson Fury of throwing boxing “Fury is dragging boxing through before his victory over Klitschko, “’Why?” Scott said. “For suc- holders that it seems athletes have are we willing to pay for clean, legit- into disrepute after the Briton twice the mud,” Klitschko told Bild news- showed traces of the banned stim- cessfully fulfilling their mandate another competitor in the ring — imate sport? We must find new ways called off a fight against the Ukrain- paper on Thursday. ulant nandrolone. He has denied and taking the necessary decisions.” politics,” Scott said. “Cynicism alone of funding the quest for a level play- ian, briefly retired from the sport Klitschko, who lost his titles to doping. “To be clear, ‘the system’ is not will not win the fight.” ing field.” and admitted to substance abuse. Fury in a surprise defeat last year, The 28-year-old on Monday broken,” she added. “If it were, the Scott’s comments were released Scott originally finished third in Fury, WBA and WBO champion, has been waiting for almost 12 announced his retirement from the exposure of systematic and state- three days before an Olympic sum- the 5-kilometer pursuit at the 2002 had been due to defend his titles months for a rematch.