Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi took an overnight lead of more than three-and-a-half minutes over Russian Vladimir Vasilyev at the end of day one of the Pharaons International Rally in Egypt yesterday.

The race is round five of the FIA Cross Country World Cup,

Driving a Toyota Hilux, Al Rajhi wiped out the slender three-second advantage that Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah had taken after the short spectator stage the previous day in El Gouna, on the shores of the Red Sea.

The Saudi driver stormed into the lead on the first of three special tests that was part of the opening 222km yesterday, with Vasilyev in second and Al Attiyah third.

Al Rajhi and Vasilyev kept up the momentum on the second test, maintaining their positions in first and second, but Attiyah slipped to fifth, surrendering his third position to Erik Van Loon of the Netherlands with Czech Miroslav Zapletal completing the top five in fourth place.

The Qatari fought back on the last special, finishing fourth, but Al Rajhi had by then put nearly 13 minutes between him and Al Attiyah, seen as the main challenger to the Saudi driver at the beginning of the rally.

“Around 100km into the stage, we took the wrong valley missing a waypoint. I tried to push hard and catch up with those in front but it was not a good idea. I lost my way,” explained Al Attiyah

Overnight leader Al Rajhi was obviously delighted with his position, particularly after he was unable to finish his last two World Cup rounds in Abu Dhabi and Qatar, which relegated him to joint fourth in the standings after leading the championship with victories in Russia and Italy.

“It has been a great day; it was a perfect strategy to choose the fifth starting position. We passed [Marek] Dabrowski about 100km into the stage while chasing Vasilyev," said Al Rajhi. “At the finish line I discovered that Nasser had still not arrived."

Vasilyev finished second overall, 3min 50secs off Al Rajhi with Van Loon third.

Yuriy Sazonow of Kazakhstan and Zapletal rounded off the top five.

The rally ends on Saturday, May 24, in Cairo.