LEG 4: WAD TISSINT / OUED CHEBEIKA
After Jean-Louis Schlesser and Céline Merle-Beral’s win in the fourth stage, it was straight to the West for the Africa Eco Race, on the gorgeous bivouac of the Oued Chebeika near the Atlantic Ocean. The blue buggy was the first to take the track yesterday morning, and won after a 340km stage of difficult trails a with a lot of traps…
A second win in the rally for Schlesser (even if he had a puncture), allowed him to take the second place in overall classification behind the Pelichet-Decré’s Bowler, a day before the rest day enjoyed by everyone…
Some teams spent the night on the dunes of Chegaga, and yesterday morning, they were trying everything to reach the bivouac of Wad Tissint. The caravan of the Africa Eco Race is on its way to the Atlantic Ocean and tough fourth stage for both people and vehicles.
Jean-Louis Schlesser won the stage. After a big effort and a puncture 30km before the end of the stage, the manufacturer of his own buggy was the best today. Schlesser shrunk the gap with the others. He is now second in the overall classification behind Pelichet-Decré on their Wildcat Bowler. A crew which was not in a good condition , but they are nonetheless fourth of the stage, fifteen minutes behind Schlesser.
The other great performance of the day was from Régis Delahaye and Alexandre Winocq (MD Buggy) who adopted the right pace, even if they started the stage in the 21st position.
Stuck in the dunes on the previous leg, Patrick Sireyjol and Patrick Antoniolli (SMG Buggy) were better and finished the stage in third position.
Double puncture for the buggy of the Belgian Stéphane Henrard (VW TDI) who is fourth just ahead of the Russian Sergey Savenko on board of his amazing Honda buggy.
Jacky Loomans (Nissan Pickup) lost half an hour because of a puncture… and he lost his second place in the overall classification as well. Pelichet is still in top position ahead of Schlesser, Loomans, Henrard and Abouyoussef (Desert Warrior), who was the victim of a tough race between Delahaye’s buggy and Elisabete Jacinto’s truck.
Main victims of the day in the car category are: François Lethier and Konstantin Zhilstovwho broke a bearing after only 20km in the stage. The team lost more than an hour and lost some precious overall positions.Some problems as well for Jean Noël Julien (Mégane MD buggy).
In the motorbike category, Norbert Dubois (KTM) won the stage after joining the leader of the rally, Willy Jobard on his hybride KTM. The other good news in this category is the come-back of Thomas Bourgin. The young Frenchman, who fell badly on Thursday was brave enough to ride his KTM again, in spite of an haematoma on his hip. Well done!
In the truck category, Elisabete Jacinto (MAN) and Tomas Tomecek (Tatra) had a good fight: Elisabete won the stage and emphasizes her advance in overall classification.
WHAT THEY SAID
CARS
Jean-Louis Schlesser (Fra/Original Buggy): « I think that we were really the best today! Céline was really good… except when she had to change a wheel 30km before the end of the stage. The stage was particularly difficult today, and I am glad to be here…”
Régis Delahaye (Fra/MD Buggy): “After starting the stage on the 21st position, we knew that we were going to suffer because of the dust. I took a lot of risks to pass 15 cars and trucks, but it was a good strategy…”
Patrick Sireyjol (Fra/SMG buggy): “After the fact that we were stucked in the first dune in Chegaga yesterday, today was a better ground for us. We had a really good race with the others buggy all day long, it was really nice, and tough as well, but still really beautiful! Well done René Metge!”
Jérome Pelichet (Fra/Wildcat Bowler): “We helped Jean-Noël Julien who was in a bad situation, then we made a mistake in navigation. The main thing is that our engine works well again. Thanks again to our mechanicals who had work all night long!
Stéphane Henrard (Bel/VW TDI buggy) : “It was a stage for us. It should have been a good day. Unfortunately, we had a double puncture, so we had to drive slowly during the last 60km…”
François Lethier (Fra/Original Buggy): « Big problems today again. After twenty kilometres, I had to go back to the start of the stage to fix a bearing. Loosing more than an hour doing that, I can see that I could have done a good time today! Moreover we had another puncture again…”
TRUCKS
Elisabete Jacinto (Por/MAN) : “We repaired our truck yesterday. Thanks again to our mechanicals who had worked all night long. We drove behind Tomecek for a while, and, finally, we passed him... What a stage again today!”
Tomas Tomecek (Tch/Tatra) : “Since the beginning of the rally, I am really glad to be back in Africa, and I want to say thank you to René Metge and all his crew to organize a race in Africa. The mood is the same than it was few years ago, and it doesn’t matter if there are hundreds of participants or not... I enjoy this race a lot!”
