Intro:

On a day that saw temperatures in the desert hitting around 40 degrees centigrade, Jean-Louis Schlesser in the autos and Marc Coma in the bike category, finished on top of the overall rankings after Wednesday's double-stage Qasr Al Sarab leg of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.

Script:

Things were heating up in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge on Wednesday.

In the autos, 63 year-old Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser demonstrated that youth and fitness are no substitute for experience.

Schlesser's Sonangol Buggy registered a narrow two minute seven second win over the UAE's Khalifa Al-Mutaiwei, racing on the Qasr Al Sarab leg of the rally.

This was enough to help him stretch his overall lead to 26 minutes and 43 seconds.

Dakar 2012 runner-up Coma has built an impressive lead, in the bike category after stamping his authority on the third stage.

Before the race, Coma singled out the 346 kilometre stage as being the key to his race. Now the MRW rider leads the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge by over eight minutes.

Coma started the stage way back in 11th yet managed to build a lead of eight minutes and 47 seconds over Joan Barreda in the stage.

Thursday sees the riders take on the longest section of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge - 522km split into a first run of 107km, a 318km special stage and a closing 97km section.