Stage 9 : AMODJAR / AKJOUJT : 493km LIAISON : AMODJAR / AOUT : 23km LEG : AOUT / AKJOUJT : 444km LIAISON : AKJOUJT / BIVOUAC AKJOUJT : 25km
The regulars in the AFRICA ECO RACE were not the slighted surprised when they arrived at the first dune section of this 444km stage from Amodjar to Akjoujt where the stage winner of each category have been here before. For many competitors, this 9th leg was very complicated and many will be arriving long after the sun has gone down. Thursday evening all the ranking have considerably changed compared to the previous stage.
Another flawless stage for Pal Anders ULLEVALSETER Pal Anders ULLVALSETER is really on a different planet. That been said, the rebellion is organizing itself with some new riders in line to counter attack against the Norwegian rider. So far no harm done as the KTM rider wins the stage in front of the two MOREIRA DE SOUSA, father and son, who are mastering the tracks quickly and finish just 15’11’’ behind - it is a real bonus riding with a wing man and today it made the difference on the rest of the field.
In 4th position, we have the Italian Marco GANDINI, who was very far down in the ranking because of many technical issues during the first week. The Slovakian Martin BENKO is getting stronger and stronger which enabled him to finish 5th in front of Andrew NEWLAND who found the navigation really complicated. Once again the Russian Dmitry AGOSHKOV managed a good day and finished 7th in front of the Frenchman Stéphane HAMARD by only 1’02’’.
Theses good results have enabled all of them to gain some places in the overall ranking, especially as today the two riders on the virtual podium, Anastasiya NIFONTOVA and Norbert DUBOIS, got back to the bivouac by helicopter leaving their machines with mechanical problems for the balai. A very difficult day for both riders, who until here had been doing an almost perfect race.
Special mention for Julien SANCHEZ from Senegal, who is the only rider representing the African continent in this year’s rally. The YAMAHA rider has been riding since day 3 with a broken foot and today he managed to enter the top 10 in the overall ranking!
Jean Antoine SABATIER still as strong when it gets tough
During the briefing, René METGE did not particularly realise the difficulty level of the dune which the competitors would have to cross during this stage. Because when the opening car of the AFRICA ECO RACE driven by José Maria SERVIA drove the course two days ago, he found the sand to be compact and hard. But because of the recent high temperatures in this area of Mauritania, the sand has dried out and has become very soft, turning these dunes into a harder than expected section of the course for the four wheel vehicles. In the ranking we have one driver who really enjoys the sand and he proved it once again today. Jean Antoine SABATIER, the winner of the 2015 AFRICA ECO RACE, who started 8th this morning and managed to avoid all the major obstacles the course had to offer him, to finish with a 8’17’’ gap to the second driver Patrick MARTIN with his TAREK who also did a picture perfect stage. It is interesting to point out that the top two drivers of the day are both regulars in the AFRICA ECO RACE and are used to dealing with the difficult situation of the African tracks.
Behind Jean Pierre STRUGO, who is a true star in the off road rally world, applied his knowledge and placed his OPTIMUS 3rd only 11’31’’ from the leader, he just did a small navigation error which made his co-driver Christophe CRESPO go nuts at the finish line. Nevertheless they manage to put their OPTIMUS number 206 in 5th place of the provisional overall ranking.
Behind JP, we have the really strong Portuguese Ricardo LEAL DOS SANTOS with his NISSAN in 4th place and just in front of the pace setter of the race, Pascal THOMASSE. For this ex-rally driver, and after 2 times been stuck in the sand, the last 140km were a real pleasure from a driving point of view and he still managed to finish not far from the leader, with a gap of only 15’13’’. An excellent result for the driver from MD Rallye Sport, as it means he is now only 8’37’’ from Kanat SHAGIROV in the overall ranking, who finished 9th with a gap of 55’45’’. This slow performance was very costly for the Kazakh driver. Finishing 10th of the day, Mathieu SERRADORI is now on the overall podium with just a 15 minutes lead on Jean Antoine SABATIER. The race is far from over, and the last two days of competition will be very tight and intense.
Finally a victory for Tomas TOMECEK As Anton SHIBALOV, the driver of the KAMAZ truck n°400 and two times winner of the AFRICA ECO RACE : “We are very proud to participate in this real race in the ruthless Mauritanian desert because the victory is only sweet when it is hard to achieve.”
The Russian driver found the perfect words to summarize the day, where the KAMAZ team have had one of the worst days of all their years of competition in the AFRICA ECO RACE.
In the first section of dunes of the day, Sergey KUPRIANOV buried his truck in the sand all the way to the axle. He managed to get out without too many difficulties as his team mate and leader of the overall ranking, Anton SHIBALOV turned around and came to help him out. From then on they decided to drive together and sacrifice their individual performance and play the team card in order to bring home two trucks to keep the top two positions of the overall ranking. On their way through the stage they helped Jean Noël JULIEN to get his OPTIMUS off its roof and back onto his wheels!
Meanwhile the Czech Tomas TOMECEK managed a faultless leg with his TATRA, the fastest time of the day in the truck category and the 11th time of the stage in the cars and trucks category in front of Elisabete JACINTO with her MAN in 15th. Sergey KUPRIANOV finished in 17th and Anton SHIBALOV in 18th in the cars and trucks ranking. The two KAMAZ trucks still have a lead of the overall ranking in front of Elisabete JACINTO.
Friday January 8 2016, the loop Akjoujt to Akjoujt will be two events in one. Indeed, parallel to this 10th stage, will be organized the Mauritanian BAJA. This 379km leg, is considered to be the prettiest stage of the Monaco – Dakar and the main highlight of the rally.
