Schlesser, Tomecek and Pisano win 2014 SONANGOL AFRICA ECO RACE

RALLYE SONANGOL AFRICA ECO RACE Friday January 10 th 2014 ÉTAPE N°10: TOUEILA / SAINT LOUIS: 493km TRANSFERT: BIVOUAC / TOUEILA: 6km SPÉCIALE: TOUEILA / GHREIDAT LIGKJOULÉ: 202km LIAISON: GHREIDAT LIGKJOULÉ / SAINT LOUIS: 285km

The last selective sector was mainly composed by beautiful dunes and sandy tracks and was a real driving pleasure for the leaders, Jean Louis SCHLESSER, Michael PISANO and Tomas TOMECEK.

Friday 10th of January, the bivouac took place in St Louis in Senegal, before joining the last run today, on the Atlantic Ocean shore with a mythical arrival at the “Lac Rose” for the awards ceremony.

Car: Last one for SCHLESSER

SCHLESSER, in his SONANGOL buggy had only one thing on his mind, winning the last selective sector of the Rally - which he has won 6 times in 6 years. The “BOSS” didn’t fail and won on a field his knows by heart. As a result, the duo SCHLESSER – MAGNALDI win with 5’11 in front of Jean Antoine SABATIER and Denis ROZAND. The 3rd place of the day was earned by the St Cyprien crew, Xavier LORMAND and Guillaume JORDA, quite sad this year - they had wanted to show more of their racing colors and potential on this event but because of their mechanical problems, they did not get the chance to reach the podium.

Jean Louis SCHLESSER was delighted at the arrival: "The first person for who I have thoughts is of course Michael SCHUMACHER. He is a friend and I really hope he’ll get better and back on track for me to show him what is Africa Race. I want to thank all the people who have worked hard to make this event happen. I also thank Thierry MAGNALDI which has been perfect. He is a great navigator and I would advise him to any top driver. Thanks also to all of our partners, especially SONANGOL without who this whole thing would not happen.”

A few words from Magnaldi: ” I of course want to thank Jean Louis to have trusted me and given me the opportunity to be his navigator. It was a great experience to be in such a car with such a driver. I’m also delighted to be back in Africa which I cherish a lot, throughout a beautiful race with a great organization. I hope I’ll be back soon at the wheel.”

In the general ranks, Jean Louis SCHLESSER wins in front of Jackie LOOMANS and Frits DRIESMANS, winner of the T1 4x4 category, whereas Stephane HENRARD and Bruno BARBIER climb on the 3rd step of the podium and win the Open category.Jean Antoine SABATIER finishes 4th and 2nd of the T1 2x4 petrol in front of Gilles FLORIN and Hervé COTEL, 8th in the general rankings.

Finishing 10th, Yves and Jean FROMONT win the T1 2x4 diesel category whereas Remy CHAPOT and Michael PAGET, in their first experience in Auto, classify 14th and win the rigid axles category.The first of the T2 category, close to standard are Philippe THIOLAT and Jean Louis JUCHAULT and who 24th in general. The first African crew, composed by Thierry MAURY and Jean Sagar MALOUF MAURY finish 35th. Philippe PINCHEDEZ and Thierry PICCO win the T3 category, dedicated to SSVs.

Truck: KOVACS all in!

Even if there wasn’t much suspense concerning first place in the truck category where Tomas TOMECEK and Vojtech MORAVEK were untouchable, behind Elisabete JACINTOs was only 2’50 in front of Miklos KOVACS, Pete CZEGLEDI and Lazlo ACS. Finally the Hungarian's motivation took over and he won the stage 4’03 in front of JACINTO who finished 3rd with her MAN behing the Hungarian SCANIA.

Bike : A win for PISANO

«The stage was magnificent. I would have loved to push harder! But the priority was to win the race, andI did not want to take stupid risks. I can’t even realise I won my first rally. I think I under estimated the event’s difficulty, especially in Morocco. But I adapted myself and it worked out. I learned a lot and I’m now more experienced! I’ll be back next year with some friends! Thanks to all the members of the organization.”

These were Michael PISANO’s words and the end of Friday’s stage which was won by Robert THEURETZBACHER on his KTM. 3rd was Gwen BACKX in front of Nobert DUBOIS and Dominique ROBIN, 2nd on the race and winner of the + 450 cc category, but unfortunately injured, falling just in front of the finish line.

Luckily he managed to do the liaison stage and arrived at the bivouac before the pain was too great to stand. Belgian Biker Joris VAN DYCK, a real performer of this edition ends on the 3rd step of the podium.

The first and only African biker of this year’s rally, Harite GABARI who raced for 10 days with a painful arm, unfortunately broke his engine and finishes only 10th. The only girl in the bike category, the beautiful Julia SCHRENK, ends her first major rally in 20th position.


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