Africa Eco Race Tuesday Review

JANUARY 10th 2017 Stage: 453km LIAISON TIWILIT / ELB JRAIK: 23km Special Stage ELB JRAIK / AZOUGUI: 425km

The 8th stage between Tiwilit and Azougui contained no real difficulties but lots of excitement leading to changes in both motorcycle and car ranking. It is all still to play for with three days still to go.

Pal Anders ULLEVALSETER has always been a model of fairplay and he demonstrated it on this stage between Elb Jraik and Azougui. Leading this morning, the Norwegian was quickly caught up and then overtaken by Gev Sella. The young Israeli then led by more than 8 minutes but unfortunately, at CP3, the KTM of SELLA ran out of fuel but Pal Anders ULLEVALSETER stopped to lend a hand."I stopped naturally, as I always do to help a biker with a problem. I gave him a little bit of fuel. I could see in his eyes that he wanted more but it was not possible because I had to think of myself. He managed to finish, it's the main thing!"

The two time winner of the event is a real gentleman!

Following this incident, Gev SELLA, had to roll slowly to the finish, losing 13'23'' on Pal Anders ULLEVALSETER, who won his second consecutive special stage victory. Harite GABARI, who had two errors yesterday clocked a magnificent 3rd place at 15'54''.

Martin BENKO came in 4th at 47'46'', Jan ZATKO 5th at 55'21'' and Stefano PELLONI 6th at 56'09''.

Aleksandr MAKSIMOV with his Quad YAMAHA is still in the leading group as the Russian finished 7th at 56'09''.

Each day is bringing its share of bad news, Tuesday it was Paolo CECI with a broken clutch on his HONDA Africa Twin just before the CP1.

In the overall standings, Gev SELLA retains the leadership but he sees Pal Anders ULLEVALSETER is closing at 36'24'' while Martin BENKO, Stefano PELLONI and Jan ZATKO next separated by about thirty minutes.

Just two years ago it was in Azougui, a nice little Mauritanian village in the heart of the dunes, that Mathieu SERRADORI won the first stage of his career in a Cross-Country Rally at the wheel of a "small" Predator. Since then, the French driver has had other successes with his SRT Buggy, notably in the 2016 FIA World Cup. Today, for the second time he won a stage on the AFRICA ECO RACE in Mauritania. I "Having been delayed yesterday by the tyre inflation system, we decided today to do without it. Fabian LURQUIN, my navigator made a perfect job and I attacked throughout the special to avoid getting stuck. The result is there and I am very happy to win here where I created a surprise back in 2015. It is for such moments that I compete!"

All agreed that this stage had magnificent views. However, it is a safe bet that Andrey KARGIMOV, at the wheel of his KAMAZ, did not have time to admire the landscapes since he finished within 7'53'' of the winner.

The first of the trucks ranks ahead of Patrick SIREYJOL's LCR30 Buggy by 40 seconds, whichfinally solved the problems of power steering.

A nice return to the leading pack for the two OPTIMUS buggies driven by Pascal THOMASSE and Guillaume GOMEZ, respectively 4th and 5th, but also for the Bugga One of Jean Antoine SABATIER, 6th, in front Remy VAUTHIER whose OPTIMUS was completely rebuilt overnight, and Miroslav ZAPLETAL who is still formidable at the wheel of his HUMMER.

The course for the day was rather favorable to truckers since Sergey KUPRIANOV finished 9th with his KAMAZ hybrid, 14 seconds ahead of the TATRA of Jaroslav VALTR.

Andrey CHEREDNIKOV was the big loser of the day after having struck a Buggy in the dunes. The FORD RAPTOR remained immobile for long minutes to repair the radiator pierced in the incident. In the end over an hour and five places were lost in the overall standings.

Wednesday, January 11, the 9th stage will take the caravan to Akjoujt. Assistance vehicles will only have 200 kilometers to complete. On the other hand, for the competitors, the special stage of 391 kilometers should be plenty of navigation and be especially tricky due to the heat and the wind present at the moment in this region of Mauritania.


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