RALLYE SONANGOL AFRICA ECO RACE - Saturday January 4th 2014 STAGE N° 5: AS SAKN / DAKHLA: 782km SPECIALE STAGE: AS SAKN / TAPIS N°5: 204km LIAISON: TAPIS N°5 / DAKHLA: 578km
Even if the town of As Sakn isn’t that close to the Atlantic Ocean, a thick fog was present on the bivouac of Saturday January 4th 2014. The result of this weather obliged Rene METGE to postpone the start of the stage by 45 minutes late.
Perfect stage for SCHLESSER
This last Moroccan stage was more difficult than the others. The recipe was simply to take good care of navigation and push hard on the southern Moroccan tracks, which were quite quick. That’s exactly what Jean Louis SCHLESSER did “Today I decided to go quicker to test my co driver! Of course, I’m joking, because his qualities have been proven. No problems at all on the Buggy and Thierry did an excellent navigating job. All is going as planned before the start of Mauritania, that’s a whole other story! ”
The five time winner of the event did no errors at all while his opponents all had puncture issues. Jackie LOOMANS arrived 12’49 behind and Jean Antoine SABATIER and his BUGGA ONE passed the line 20’03 behind the stage winner.
Michel TURON BARRERE had some navigation problems which made him lose 19’02 whilst Balazs SZALAYS was only 6’01 behind.
Other drivers managed to do good stage times, Khanat SHAGIROV was 5th at 13’20, Stephane HENRARD 6th at 15’15 or Yuriy SAZONOV in 7th position at 15’18 in his H3 Hummer.
In the general standings, SCHLESSER is nearly 40 minutes ahead of LOOMANS at the wheel of his Hilux TOYOTA, followed by the two Buggies of SABATIER, 3rd at 57’17 and Michel TURON BARRERE 4th at 01:02’.
Truck: Elisabete JANCINTO continues her ascension
JACINTO won her second consecutive stage at the wheel of her MAN and took back as much time as she could on Tomas TOMECEK and his TATRA which should be way quicker in the Mauritanian dunes. The Czech driver, 9th overall, is only 13’57 ahead of JACINTO, who did her top 10 entry on Saturday’s stage. Right behind, Niklos KOVACS at the wheel of his SCANIA didn’t manage to take avantage of his start in front of his opponents, he even got distanced by the Belgian Noel ESSERS and his MAN.
Bike: First stage win for Dominique ROBIN
“I decided to push harder today after yesterday stage, which was good in terms of navigation but not quick enough. I caught up Nobert quickly as he did a mistake, after that I pushed hard and took few risks, my trip was showing 178km/h top speed, which is a bit dangerous so early in the morning, but it was necessary and it worked”
PISANO finished 2nd at 2’02: _ “I tried to take care of my engine on this short quick stage, too quick for my 450 HONDA. If I would have gone faster I wouldn’t be here. I will have to manage this fact in front of my opponents who have 690 KTMs, which are way quicker and which are better on high speeds. I love the challenge."
Nobert DUBOIS was 3rd on the day at 4’09, just in front of the Moroccan biker, Harite GABARI at 4’22 on his 450 YAMAHA. For the rest of the TOP 10, we find the Belgian BACKX in 5th position, just in front of Guillaume MARTENS whocame back into the game on yesterday’s stage having mechanical issues previously on his KTM.
In 7th place is for Joris VAN DYCK learning quite quickly, Willy JOBARD and his hybrid ZONGSHEN is getting better and better in 8th position in front of LENOBLE’s YAMAHA, equipped with solar cells. The Italian biker Alessandro BARBERO is 10th.
Just before entering the second part of the SONANGOL AFRICA ECO RACE, PISANO still leads, 7’23 in front of Dominique ROBIN and 31’50 in front of DUBOIS. This Mauritanian week is going to be very interesting.
Sunday the participants will get the opportunity to rest on the Bivouac close to Dakhla, situated on the Atlantic Ocean Shore.
