Emirati Mohammed Balooshi and his competitors battled challenging conditions in the Atacama Rally’s shortened first leg to open the fifth stage of the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship.

With rain storms hitting the countryside region of Chile in the previous weeks leading up to the event, areas of the route from Vina del Mar to La Serena were washed away and damaged, forcing the first leg to be reduced for safety reasons.

The altered route featured two loops to a zone with big dunes overseeing the Pacific Ocean near Riconto, followed by a road section of more than 400km to the next bivouac.

Even with a shortened distance, several riders struggled with mechanical problems and minor crashes on dunes that proved to be difficult.

Balooshi was no exception as the KTM-UAE rider had to fight through setbacks of falling down on occasions to finish the leg in a respectable ninth place in the overall classification.

“It was a tough ride with dunes very different from the ones we have in the Middle East,” said Balooshi, who’s not only the lone Emirati competing in the World Championship, but the only Asian.

“This region’s darker sand is moist and hard which is usually very good for riding, but in this case it forms chains of small consecutive bumps which we call woops and are very challenging and also take toll on the bike’s suspension and the rider’s body. Leg 1 was no walk in the park at all.”

Chilean Pablo Quintanilla set the pace on his home turf, finishing first ahead of Dubai-based Briton Sam Sunderland, crossing a minute behind, and Australia’s Toby Price, trailing by a minute and 17 seconds.

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Austria’s Matthias Walkner, who sits one spot ahead of Balooshi in the World Championship overall rankings in third, wrapped up day one in fourth place.

The second leg offers no reprieve for the riders, with 200km of rocky terrain that will test navigation skills. Balooshi remains confident in his approach and looks to improve on his standing as he treks from La Serena to Atacama.

“My team works on finding the best set up for the bike to take the best out of each type of terrain, but sometimes nature plays hard on you and things become tougher than you would like,” he said.

“Tomorrow will be a new battle and we will do our best as always Inshallah. I train all year for this and my team also works day in and day out, we love what we do.”