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STAGE 10 : 482 km
LIAISON : BIVOUAC AKJOUJT / AKJOUJT : 29 km
SPECIAL STAGE : AKJOUJT / AKJOUJT : 423 km
LIAISON : AKJOUJT / BIVOUAC AKJOUJT : 29 km
This will be the second loop stage of the 2017 AFRICA ECO RACE®. The start will be 23 kilometers from Akjoujt. The really fast track of the start will lead the competitors to the White Valley until the famous pass of Amodjar which is still as magnificent. Besides that, we will place a camera there. A quite rocky part of the cliff will be a little delicate before reaching the village of Maden after which will be placed refueling. Then, in the descent of the cliff, the panorama that will be offered to the participants is one of the most beautiful of Mauritania with dunes down as far as the eye can see. Depending on the weather conditions in the previous months or weeks, the dunes will be easy or not. The advantage is that the rally will go through this part relatively early in the morning so it should be fine, especially in this direction and on this very sandy section. The track will go to the sublime pass of Hnouk which will be slaloming between the cliffs. Again, a feast for the eyes but a quite difficult portion between the rocks. Then the track winds between the dunes before arriving on a crossing once again, just before the "Percé Rock" which will be a mark of passage easily recognizable. After two more dunes cords, the pass of Izigui will be the last small difficulty of the day before passing CP3 and to quickly go towards the finish. Undoubtedly the most spectacular stage of the rally when it comes to landscapes.
Thursday JANUARY 12th 2017
AKJOUJT / AKJOUJT
Stage : 482 km
Liaison BIVOUAC / AKJOUJT : 29 km
Special Stage AKJOUJT / AKJOUJT : 424 km
Liaison AKJOUJT / BIVOUAC : 29 km
AFRICA ECO RACE® 2017 : THE TOUGHEST STAGE
The first bike took 5h27'12 '' to cover the 424 kilometers of this Akjoujt / Akjoujt loop. And this same driver accumulates more than 40 hours in race on the 10 stages of the 2017 AFRICA ECO RACE®. In other words, this 9th edition is rather tough in terms of time spent on the track. Today, all the competitors at the finish said they had done the hardest stage since the start. True fact, because this last day in Mauritania has done some damage, especially in Auto category where the race to the podium was relaunched, without however changing the first place. At 20:00, Mauritania time, there were still 10 cars and 4 motorcycles on the special stage.
SELLA UNTOUCHABLE
According to the level of difficulty of the stage, and the fact that Pal Anders ULLEVALSETER has already done it twice and the very little experience of Gev SELLA, who could have imagined that the young Israeli would emerge victorious? Not many people! Gev SELLA won, relegating Pal Anders ULLEVALSETER at 10'29 '', bringing his lead to 54'24 '' on his Norwegian opponent. The whole stage he was relaxed, without giving the impression of having to force. He was even admiring Pal Anders on arrival: "Pal is the King of the dunes. It impresses me in his way of passing them. I learn enormously from his contact and I hope that I will be one day as strong as he in this exercise. "
To what Pal Anders ULLEVASETER answers: "I may be the King of the dunes. The problem is that he is the King of all the rest, navigation, feeling, high-speed steering, trajectories, etc ... "Like every day a very nice dialogue between the two KTM pilots who both dominate this AFRICA ECO RACE® 2017 on two wheels.
Behind, with Harite GABARI missing, who broke his second engine yesterday, Paolo CECI takes the 3rd place of the day with the HONDA Africa Twin at 39'26 ''. Martin BENKO, who said he made the most difficult stage of his career, is 4th at 1h06'15 '' and Stefano PELLONI, happy as a winner at the finish, is 5th at 1h13'00 ''. The Italian beat Alexander Vivien AZINHAIS and then Yan ZATKO, separated only by 5 seconds to the advantage of the Portuguese. The Dutchman Guillaume MARTENS is still the first "Malles Moto MOTUL" rider to complete the special at 1h48'03 '' in 8th position. The Swedish Anders BERGLUND on his HUSABERG and the Russian Aleksandr MAKSIMOV riding YAMAHA Quad complete the top 10. Tomorrow, the ultimate selective sector should only be easy for the young Gev SELLA since he is nearly an hour Ahead of Pal Anders ULLEVALSETER. If he succeeds in keeping the first place acquired since the 3rd stage, he will defininately enter the legend of Cross-Country Rallies by becoming the youngest driver in the history of the discipline to win a major Rally.
SABATIER's REVENGE
"To win with more than 15 minutes on the MINI, just for that, I do not regret to have come! "This was the reaction of Jean Antoine SABATIER, the winner of this Akjoujt / Akjoujt loop by winning with a 15'33 '' gap separating him from the MINI of Vladimir VASILYEV, second of the day. Like in 2015, a deserved victory for the French-Moroccan on this special stage described by all as the most difficult. The BUGGA ONE got stuck in the sand only once and losing only 8 minutes, while all his opponents experienced much more hassle. Beginning with Andrey CHEREDNIKOV whose FORD Raptor was completely destroyed after several spins at 40 kilometers from the finish. Other victims of the day, Pascal THOMASSE who snatched a triangle from his OPTIMUS, Balazs SZALAY whose Proto OPEL had not ended the special stage at 8 pm and Victor KHOROSHAVTSEV, forced to join the road due to the problem with his gearbox on his BMW X3 prototype. Not to forget that CHEREDNIKOV and SZALAY were in 5th and 10th position overall before this stage.
It is well known, the misfortune of some makes the happiness of others and especially of those who have done rather well today. Starting with Miroslav ZAPLETAL, 3rd time of the day in Auto, ahead of Guillaume GOMEZ, 5th, Dominique HOUSIEAUX, 6th, Jean Noël JULIEN, 8th and Rémy VAUTHIER 10th. Four OPTIMUS buggies in the top ten, it would have been hard to do better. However, two of these drivers of Team MD Rallye Sport were not satisfied with their day namely Dominique HOUSIEAUX who lost 2nd place of the overall ranking for the benefit of the HUMMER of Miroslav ZAPLETAL and Guillaume GOMEZ who, without two or three errors would have won the stage without any doubt.
In the overall standings, Vladimir VASILYEV is still in the lead with 2h08'10 '' ahead of ZAPLETAL and 2h15'03 '' on Dominique HOUSIEAUX. Unless there is a disaster on the last stage, the Russian should have his name in the AFRICA ECO RACE® winning records.
TOMECEK STILL AS RELIABLE
Jaroslav VALTR's modern TATRA is 2nd in the Truck category and 7th in the day's scratch, ahead of Andrey KARGINOV's KAMAZ by more than 9 minutes. Overall, Andrey KARGINOV is still the undisputed leader, having more than an hour lead over Jaroslav VALTR and two hours on Tomas TOMECEK. Once again, there is no longer any suspense.
Tomas TOMECEK has won the AFRICA ECO RACE® three times. He is the man when it comes to extreme conditions and even if his "old" TATRA is sometimes outdated in the fast sectors, there is no better way to fight the dunes. The Czech thus did not miss the opportunity to shine on this loop of Akjoujt by signing the 4th time of Autos / Trucks and winning in the Trucks category.
On Friday January 13th will be the final stage counting for the final ranking will take place between Akjoujt in Mauritania and Saint Louis in Senegal. This stage will include a selective stage 208 kilometers. It should have no special difficulties. But as Jean Louis SCHLESSER says, as long as the checkered flag is not crossed, anything can happen!
