French
English
STAGE 7 : 439 km
LIAISON : TIWILIT / HASSI LOUBBOU : 16 km
SPECIAL STAGE : HASSI LOUBBOU / TIWILIT : 414 km
BIVOUAC TRANSFER : 9 km
The first Mauritanian loop will undoubtedly be the big part of this 9th edition. After the first fifty kilometers on a small easy track, participants will find a large well. This landmark will mark a change of direction and especially a change of terrain since it is an ocean of dunes that will then offer itself to the competitors. There will be no other alternative than to enter the dune cord, on a sinuous track between the dunes, just before starting two crossings of 3.5 km which won't be easy. They will then find a little rest on a large rolling plain before crossing another dune cord of 38 km, a mixture of dunes and camel grass. A good moment of bravery but also of pleasure because the sand and the crossing are the essence of the discipline and the event. Once out of the dunes a nice sandy track in the great plains of Benichab will allow competitors to "breath" a bit during 150 km, with however a lot of navigation. The last hundred kilometers of this very selective stage should allow everyone to recover before arriving at the bivouac of Tiwilit.
Monday JANUARY 9th 2017
TIWILIT / TIWILIT
STAGE : 440 km
Liaison TIWILIT / ASSI LOUBBOU : 16 km
Special Stage ASSI LOUBBOU / TIWILIT : 414 km
Transfert bivouac : 9 km
A BIG PART !
Last night, at the bivouac of Tiwilit, a small Mauritanian village located at about 100km from Nouakchott, René METGE clearly announced this 8th stage as one of the big part of this AFRICA ECO RACE® edition. Once again, the sporting director was right as even if the first fifteen cars and the first seven bikes have not had to many issues, it is not the same for the rest of the competitors. Moreover, some may arrive very late at the bivouac tonight. Anyway, Pal Anders ULLEVALSETER on motorcycle and Vladimir VASILYEV in Auto were victorious while in the truck category the 1st place was for Jaroslav VALTR.
ULLEVALSETER AT THE RENDEZ-VOUS
Pal Anders ULLEVALSETER waited impatiently for the great Mauritanian open spaces to fight back for victory and come back in the overall standings. First goal is reached for the Norwegian who won the scratch. On the other hand, when it comes to taking time out of Gev SELLA, his most serious opponent for the final victory, we can't say that it's a success since the young Israeli finished only 2'30 '' after the two time winner of the event. This proves that the incredible results obtained in Morocco were absolutely no coincidence and that a star of the discipline was born on the 9th edition of the AFRICA ECO RACE®. Behind the two strong men of the Rally on two wheels, Paolo CECI finishes at 12'46 '' but the Italian still remains 2nd place overall. Once the first three bikes arrived, it took exactly one hour to see the next biker passed the finish line. More precisely, they were two since Jan ZATKO, this glorious veteran of 61 years, faithful of the AFRICA ECO RACE and 4th of the day, was accompanied by his Slovak compatriot Martin BENKO. A dozen minutes later, Guillaume MARTENS passed the line, followed closely by the Russian Aleksandr MAKSIMOV and his quad, very impressive riding his YAMAHA. Stefano PELLONI, Laurent WEIBEL and Jean GOSSELIN complete the top 10 and finish within two hours from the first. A word on Harite GABARI, 4th this morning before the start. Unfortunately, the Moroccan pilot will not see Lake Rose since he broke the engine of his KTM at km 50 of the stage.
Overall, Gev SELLA is still the leader, 38'54 '' ahead of Paolo CECI and 49'47 '' ahead of ULLEVALSETER. But Sella must not give up and, as he says so well, the route is still long until Lake Rose.
END OF "VACATION" FOR VASILYEV
During his interview on the finish of stage 6, Vladimir VASILYEV declared that he was on vacation, between the last Moroccan stage, the rest day and the first Mauritanian selective stage. It seems that the holidays ended today for the Russian who had to work to win the special stage, ten tiny seconds, if a rule of 3 is applied of a excellent Thierry MAGNALDI after its engine break yesterday. A tiny gap after 414 km of sandy tracks, camel grass, dunes and complicated navigation that made the French rage at the finish. Kazakhstan's Andrey CHEREDNIKOV, 3rd at 7'28 '' at the wheel of his FORD Raptor, a little less than 5 minutes before the BMW of the Russian Victor KHOROSHAVTSEV, while Dominique HOUSIEAUX, despite a harsh bronchitis, places its OPTIMUS in 5th position at 16 minutes. Jaroslav VALTR is ranked 6th among the fastest cars like Mathieu SERRADORI, suffering from two punctures and finally 7th or Miroslav ZAPLETAL who finished 8th. From 9th to 12th place, we find the four OPTIMUS Buggies of David GERARD, Guillaume GOMEZ, Jean Noël JULIEN and Pascal THOMASSE. Gérald MOGNIER and his Buggy where also present as they entered the top 20, just ahead of the "small" SSV POLARIS of Frédéric PITOUT which is formidably efficient on this type of landscape.
Overall, Thierry MAGNALDI received a penalty of 10 hours for the missed CPs and the replacement of his Buggy engine, it is now Andrey CHEREDNIKOV who's in 2nd place, 1h40'35 '' behind the MINI of Vladimir VASILYEV. In third place, we find Pascal THOMASSE, followed very closely by Dominique HOUSIEAUX, himself under pressure by KAMAZ Andrey KARGIMOV, since, just as reminder, AFRICA ECO RACE® is the only Offroad Rally where auto and truck are ranked together.
VALTR DOES THE SHOW !
To get more in details of the classifications of the desert monsters, since the beginning of the event, Jaroslav VALTR shows a lot of generosity on the track at the wheel of his TATRA. With more or less success but today, the Czech, in addition to the show at the finish, finished over 18 minutes in front of the TATRA of Tomas TOMECEK and more than 20 minutes in front of the KAMAZ of Andrey KARGIMOV. Even if KARGIMOV is not really under pressure in the overall ranking, he will have to be attentive to the two TATRA Czechs of VALTR and TOMECEK, respectively 2nd and 3rd.
Tuesday, January 10th, 2017, the AFRICA ECO RACE® is heading east, to Azougui, not far from Atar. A long stage of 425 kilometers at the program but which should however allow everyone to relax a bit before starting the second hard part of this mauritanian week.
