RALLYE SONANGOL AFRICA ECO RACE WEDNESDAY 8TH OF JANUARY STAGE 8: AKJOUJT / AKJOUJT: 421km LIAISON: AKJOUJT / HASSI TIZIGUI: 84km STAGE: HASSI TIZIGUI / AKJOUJT: 337km
CAPE WAS THE KEY WORD
During the briefing of the 8th stage, René METGE emphasised the importance of taking the right capes during the whole day.Some participants took the advice and other didn't - they are still in the dunes.
René METGE concerning this stressful sandy stage in Mauritania: "I had announced this stage has a harsh one and I insisted on the importance of the capes. The biggest issue came after CP 3. The participants had to go on a 11° capes and instead they went straight into a very difficult dune field. Some continued for5km before noticing their error. I then decided to stop the helicopter to show them the way myself. Some managed to get back on the right track, others damaged their clutch and stayed stuckAt 20:00 local time, 14 cars/trucks and 4 bikes were still not at the bivouac, where the finish was.
Car: 4th stage for SABATIER
One of those who took advantage of the situation, to get back on the front of the scene, even though he got blocked in the sand, is Jean Antoine SABATIER as he won his 4th stage on the SONANGOL AFRICA ECO RACE.
The frenchman won the stage 1’42 in front of Stephane HENRARD who was not really happy. "During most of the day we were behind Jean Louis SCHLESSER and we even got very close to him. We didn’t have any navigation or mechanical problems. When Jean Louis got stuck we finally managed to pass and after that I tried to manage fuel as much as I could so as not to face the same problem as yesterday concerning fuel. I even thought we were in front. Being too careful was a strategic error and I figured it out when I saw SABATIER arriving, and who started 7 minutes behind us. I’m disappointed to finish second once again. I’m still going to do my very best to win a stage until the end of the race”.
The 3rd place of the day went to Jacky LOOMANS, which once again helped a participant, Yves FROMONT who was stuck. .
He ends the day at the wheel of his Toyota HILUX about 10 minutes in front of Jean Louis SCHLESSER, who lost some time in the sand and also had a problem with the SONANGOL BUGGY itself, one of his hydraulic cylinder blocked in low position.
5th position was for Gintas PETRUS from Lituania and his desert warrior but the most surprising, in 6th position was Mathieu SERRADORI and his little Predator BUGGY, participating in his 2nd only rally.
The big loss of the day started with Balazs SZALAY, who had to abandon due to an engine problem. Michel TURON BARRERE was second on the list due to a hydraulic cylinder issue which made him lose 3 hours. Gilles FLORIN went into the wrong dune field and broke his clutch and also Kanat SHAGIROV from Kazakhstan who is still out in the wild!In the general rankings, Jean Louis SCHLESSER and Thierry MAGNALDI are still leading with 1h10’02 in front of LOOMANS’s Toyota and 2h42’53 in front of HENRARD and BARBIER, also leading the Open category.
Trucks: Nice performance from KOVACS
After yesterday’s issues due to sand, Niklos KOVACS from Hungary started 4th in the truck category. Even with a smaller top speed on his SCANIA ( 120km/h whereas the others climb up to 150km/h ) the navigation was perfectly managed by Peter CZEGLEDI, KOVACS ends 3rd of the day overall, only 15’45 behind SABATIER. "I arrived 20 minutes in front of Tomas TOMECEK’s TATRA and took back 59’59 from JACINTO and her MAN truck." 4th yesterday, the Hungarian is now 2nd just behind TOMECEK 5th of the day.
Bikes : THEURETZBACHER loves the sand
One thing is sure, the SONANGOL AFRICA ECO RACE reveals more and more talents like the Austrian Robert THEURETZBACHER winning his 3rd stage, but also Gwen BACKX 2nd at 7’17 and Joris VAN DYCK, 3rd at 12’57, both from belgium. Behind this trio, Harite GABARI who was injured on the 3rd stage finishes 4th at 14’14 right in front of Michael PISANO at 20’25. Dominique ROBIN gets 13 minutes back on his Corsican rival and Nobert DUBOIS loses all chance of being on the podium ending at 2h18’08 from the first bikes of the day. In the general rankings PISANO stays 1st, 42’27 in front of ROBIN and 1h11’50 on Joris VAN DYCK.
The 9th stage of 309km of which 289km of selective sector between Akjoujt and Toueila will be the last episode of the Mauritanian sand battles. We should have once again some surprises!
