PROVISIONAL RESULTS OF THE DAY
Motorbike: Jacopo Cerutti
Car: Nicolas Delencre
SSV: Sanders Derickx
Truck: Gerrit Zuurmond
Historic : Jorge Perez Companc
The fourth stage of the Africa Eco Race took place today between Assa and Khnifiss, over a total course of 487 kilometers, including a 483-kilometer selective sector. It was a stage full of sporting twists and turns, alternating between fast but sometimes very rough tracks, sandy areas, and particularly complex navigation in the final kilometers. This sector near the Atlantic did not offer dunes cordons, but competitors had to remain very vigilant on the sometimes treacherous and steep tracks.
Motorbike: Cerutti triumphs thanks to his navigation, Botturi loses big
Jacopo Cerutti (Aprilia) won in 5:14:32, ahead of Antonio Maio at 3 min 54 s and Gautier Paulin at 4 min 11 s. The lead group, composed of Thomas Marini, Jean-Loup Lepan, and Kevin Gallas, rode together for many kilometers on the final section. Cerutti, acting strategically, remained in ambush behind Jean-Loup Lepan, taking advantage of a navigation error by the other riders to dash toward victory.
Alessandro Botturi, a two-time winner of the event, suffered a stroke of bad luck just 7 km from the finish, falling victim to an electrical failure. Stuck on the track for over an hour, he was rescued by his Yamaha teammate Nicolas Charlier, who towed him with a strap to the finish line.
Botturi stated: "I suffered an electrical failure while I was right behind the lead group. A big thank you to Nicolas; he was running his own race and stopped for me, even though several riders passed during the hour I was at a standstill. Nicolas sacrificed his race and decided to pull me out with the strap."
Jean-Loup Lepan: "A really difficult navigation; today I did at least 25 km too many in total, leading the others with me at the end. We spent time on a chott looking for the right track; Cerutti took advantage to catch up and immediately found the right heading. Then he signaled me to go ahead to open; I went full throttle and realized after a few kilometers that I was completely wrong... and Cerutti had sped toward the finish on the correct track."
In the general classification, Cerutti takes the lead, Antonio Maio moves into second place, and Jean-Loup Lepan maintains third position.
Car and SSV: A 100% Belgian podium and new developments
In the Car category, Nicolas Delencre (Optimus) won the special in 4:45:30, ahead of Pol Van Pollaert (Optimus) at 11 min 03 s and Christian Femont (Mini Cooper X Raid) at 12 min 52 s.
Pol Van Pollaert: "We did a very good job with the navigation; I am very happy with today's performance. We still lost time with 2 punctures, but the race is long and we have the right pace."
Nicolas Delencre, the day's winner, declared: "You had to be very good at navigation today, and we did a great job of teamwork with my co-driver Jonathan Lurquin. We trusted each other without being influenced by the tracks, focused on the notes. A beautiful stage victory and a good day."
In the overall Car standings, Pol Van Pollaert takes the lead ahead of Christian Femont and Philippe Lambilliotte.
In the SSV category, defending champion Pierre Lafay suffered a major mechanical breakdown in the first part of the special and crossed the finish line in 11th position, more than an hour behind winner Sanders Derickx. Martin Benko took second place, over 10 minutes back, followed by Eric Bernard at 17 minutes.
In the SSV general classification, Lafay drops off the podium; Martin Benko takes the lead, followed by William Grarre at nearly 27 minutes and Jérome Cambier at 30 minutes.
Truck: Zuurmond continues his dominance
Gerrit Zuurmond won the stage in 6:15:10, ahead of Noel Essers at 37 min 24 s and Mike Panhuijzen at more than an hour behind the winner. The general classification reflects this result, with Zuurmond further strengthening his 5-hour lead over Essers and Panhuijzen.
Zuurmond: "We are very happy with our performances and the lead accumulated. Certainly, I have a lot of experience, but the fact that we are the only truck entered with an automatic gearbox must certainly play a role as well; this confirms we made the right choice of transmission."
Historic: A taste of the difficulties to come
The 23 crews entered faced three types of exercises: a sporting regularity zone, a time-gated zone (ZTG: Zone Time Gate), and a navigation zone. The first was made very difficult by recent rains; the second offered enjoyment to the competitors, while the navigation zone, reflecting this 4th stage, was particularly complex, causing a lot of "gardening" (searching) on the tracks and giving a taste of the difficulties awaiting all competitors tomorrow.
Jorge Perez Companc (Toyota HDJ 80) won this stage, ahead of Axel Berrier (Porsche 964 DKR) and Alberto Herrero (Toyota HDJ 80).
This fourth stage, rich in twists and demanding for both machines and pilots, confirms the selective nature of the Africa Eco Race. Tomorrow, a key stage awaits the competitors with navigation announced as particularly complex in the reaches of the Moroccan Deep South and its vast flat expanses of sand. This stage will take participants to Dakhla to then enjoy a well-deserved rest day, allowing them to reset and maintain heavily used mechanics before crossing into Mauritania for the second part of the rally-raid.
