(Egypt) - 1st/8th of October 2011World Cup for Cross Country Rallies

LEG 3 : TIBNIYA – SAHL BARAKA (5th of October)Liaison : 3,21 km – Special Stage : 286,05 km – Liaison : 21,38 km

New stage victory for Team Sonangol Schlesser! Taken the overall lead yesterday after defeating the BMW of Team Czech Off-Road Sport and Romanian Team Casuneanu on Mitsubishi MPR 13, Jean-Louis Schlesser signs today its second consecutive stage win. On this 286 km stage which had to be negotiated carefully, the blue buggy takes a comfortable overall lead with more than one hour on his pursuers.

Between Tibniya and Sahl Baraka, competitors had to face new challenges. They had to maintain a strong intensity in their efforts and keep concentration, especially on the rocky parts of this third stage to avoid any puncture.

Jean-Louis Schlesser did not fall into the trap and signs for Team Sonangol Schlesser another success. A beautiful day for the blue buggy which left its mark again on the sands of Egypt.

"We started in the front this morning and after 63 km, Boris Gadasin joined us. He overtook and we followed him staying still very careful on the rocks. He was pushing very hard, maybe too much on this kind of track and between km160 and km170, he had a puncture . We took the lead and stayed in front until the finish line. We increased even further our advantage in the standings. We had sand in about one third of the stage with very fast parts between the dunes. We maintained a quite good average speed today. The scenery was one again very beautiful. This rally is a real pleasure for the eyes! "