Tuesday January 7th 2014 STAGE N° 7: CHAMI / AKJOUJT: 534km SPECIAL STAGE: CHAMI / AMSAGA: 466km LIAISON: AMSAGA / AKJOUJT: 68km
The big battle in the Mauritanian dunes will happen in three stages. It started today with a stage from Chami to Akjoujt, will continue tomorrow in a loop stage Akjoujt/Akjoujt and will end up Thursday with a stage from Akjoujt to Toueilla. A harsh battle for the leaders of the rankings to keep their places.
Bike: PISANO is still the boss
It’s the first time for Michael PISANO, leading the bike category, to put the wheels of his 45O HONDA in the Mauritanian desert. A true handicap in front of his opponents Dominique ROBIN and Nobert DUBOIS, way more experienced as they have been racing on African tracks for over 10 years. But the Corsican is very smart, he asked advises from the very experienced Thierry MAGNALDI on how to approach the Mauritanian dunes. Apparently, MAGNALDI’s hints have paid off as PISANO won today’s stage with barely any errors, increasing the gap by 15’56 on Dominique ROBIN.
]Dominique ROBIN, 2nd today : “I had a monotone day. I crossed the dunes portions without having too much difficulty and didn’t really take risks on the quick portions. PISANO was very good today. Tomorrow I’ll have to be quicker and its not going to be that easy.”
A nice performance from the italian Alessandro BARBERO on his KTM. He ends the day 3rd, 33’56 behind today’s winner, putting him 3 places higher in the general rankings.
Good day as well for Willy JOBARD and his hybrid 450 ZONGSHEN which appears to be very reliable, ending the stage in 4th position in front of Joris VAN DYCK.
On the other hand, Norbert DUBOIS didn’t have an easy day and he is seeing the podium slowly edge away, ending only 6th of the day at 39’28. He has 10 seconds left in front of VAN DYCK in the general ranks of the SONANGOL AFRICA ECO RACE.
Car: SCHLESSER passes, SABATIER stumbles!
Even if on two wheels the rankings havent changed that much, its a whole other story in Auto as Jean Antoine SABATIER, the only one capable of scaring Jean Louis SCHLESSER, has seen his chances of winning completely wrecked after having been stuck for 3 hours in huge camel grass, where SCHLESSER had lost 20 minutes just before. The difference between the two two wheel drive buggies is that Jean Louis SCHLESSER didn’t hit he camel grass frontally as SABATIER did. As a result, SABATIER had to release his Bugga ONE - shovelling for3 hours.
The other big loser of the day was Balazs SZALAY who ended over one and a half hours behind due to engine issues on his OPEL MOKKA V8 losing podium chances, just like Yuriy SAZONOV and his HUMMER, ending over 2 hours behind SCHLESSER.
For Jackie LOOMANS all went well as he ended the day in 4th position at 30’17. He even towed Stephane HENRARD, who ran out of gas just 6 km away from the end of the stage. A superb performance from Yves and Jean FROMONT, 2nd on today’s stage at 4’02 at the wheel of their VW Tarek.
A superb performance from Yves and Jean FROMONT, 2nd on today’s stage at 4’02 at the wheel of their VW Tarek.
In the general rankings, Jean Louis SCHLESSER is closing on the podium, in front of Jackie LOOMANS at 1h19’37 and Michel TURON BARRERE at 2h36’13. Today’s stage proved to everyone that everything can change very quickly.
Truck: TOMECEK is untouchable!
Today’s impressive performance came from Tomas TOMECEK at the wheel of his TATRA truck. The Czech started today’s stage 11th to end up 3rd only 22’38 behind Jean Louis SCHLESSER. A habit for the two times winner of the event, over 30 minutes in front of his opponents. Noel ESSERS is constantly improving, 2nd of the day nearly 13 minutes in front of Elisabete JACINTO who keeps her second place on the podium for the moment in front of Nikos KOVACS and his yellow SCANIA renamed the “Yellow Submarine” after having been stuck a lot in the sand!
The 8th stage is composed of a 337km loop around Akjoujt. The stage will not be that easy but the beautiful landscape and scenery should help the participants to get over their difficulties.
