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STAGE 6 : 744 km
LIAISON : DAKHLA / BOULANOUAR : 438 km
SPECIAL STAGE : BOULANOUAR / CHAMI : 172 km
TRANSFERT : CHAMI / TIWILIT : 134 km
It will be 5:00 am when the entire caravan of the AFRICA ECO RACE® will start on a long morning connection to the border between Morocco and Mauritania. After passing the No Man's Land between the border posts that many will find changed, the vehicles will join the start of the stage not far from the Mauritanian village of Boulanouar. The short special stage of the day is now well known to the regulars of the event. The course will be rather fast on a sandy ground, but sometimes complicated in terms of cape navigation and off road. An exercise however nice to measure the Mauritanian sand. The caravan of the AFRICA ECO RACE® will return to the seaside since the bivouac will be installed not far from Nouakchott, in Tiwilit to be precise, for two consecutive days.
Sunday JANUARY 7TH 2017
DAKHLA / TIWILIT
STAGE : 744 km
Liaison DAKHLA / BOULANOUAR : 438 km
Special stage BOULANOUAR / CHAMI : 173 km
Liaison CHAMI / TIWILIT : 133 km
WELCOME TO MAURITANIA
After an enjoyable rest day in Dakhla, with a bivouac set on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, under a magnificent sun and a summer temperature, with more European visitors, the competitors of the 2017 AFRICA ECO RACE® arrived in Mauritania after an express border crossing. The 172 kilometers stage between Boulanouar and Tiwilit was able to start on time. Fortunately it was still 31 degrees on the starting line. Although there was not a major difficulty for this stage, except for a little bit of navigation, due to mechanical failures of Thierry MAGNALDI and Dmitry AGOSHKOV, the overall Auto ranking was completely change in the top 3, as well as the top 5 in the bikes category. And as René Metge pointed out: "This is only the beginning! "
CECI ON FIRE !
This first Mauritanian stage was announced as a fast stage. Fast equals to power and the best bike at this is the HONDA Africa twin of Paolo CECI. As a result, the Italian wins the scratch with 2'15 '' ahead of Gev SELLA who redeems after his 17th place on the 5th stage. The good surprise of the day comes from Alexandre Vivien AZINHAIS who takes the 3rd best time of the day. A good performance for this Portuguese rider who took his KTM for the first time in Mauritania. He is ahead of Harite GABARI who complained from the lack of power as his bike has a carburator whereas most of the other KTMs are equiped with injectors. When Pal Anders ULLEVALSETER was able to restore his health in Dakhla and especially to heal his sore hand after a fall, the Norwegian was safe and looks forward to the next stages where his experience should make a difference. On the bad news side, Dmitry AGOSHKOV broke the engine of his KTM at kilometer 19 of the special stage. A sad news for the Russian rider who arrived on his favorite playground in 5th position overall. On the Malle Moto MOTUL rider’s side, once again Guillaume MARTENS made his mark by signing the 7th fastest time of the day. The Dutchman is now at the gates of the top 5, just behind the Italian Stefano PELLONI.
After a 9-minute penalty received by Gev SELLA for a time exceeded in the liaison stage, the young Israeli in only now 28'38 '' ahead of Paolo CECI and 52'17 of Pal Anders ULLEVALSETER. Well enough to say that nothing is over yet!
SERRADORI SLOWLY COMING BACK
At kilometer 39 of the special stage, a blue buggy is stopped on the edge of the track, with a open hood cover. It is the Two Wheels Drive Buggy of Thierry MAGNALDI which hasn’t found a solution to its mechanical breakdown and which will therefore come back at the bivouac being towed. A huge disapointment for the French driver, as until then he was 2nd of the overall standings and a possibly the only capable one of fighting with the MINI of Vladimir VASILYEV, still quiet leader of this 9th edition of AFRICA ECO RACE® after his 5th place of the day. A day made for the two-wheel drive vehicles, powerful and fast, like the SRT buggy of Mathieu SERRADORI who wins the scratch with an average speed of 140 km / h. A first victory this year after the worries he encountered last week. The Frenchman was delighted at the finish: "I dedicate this victory to my mechanics who disassembled the car from A to Z yesterday in Dakhla to restore it. I know I will not win this 9th edition. So I will try to make myself happy just like today. "It is well known, as was the case for years for Jean Louis SCHLESSER, the boss of the AFRICA ECO RACE®, the track drivers like the fast special stage because they are accustomed to the high speeds. Remy VAUTHIER, gentleman driver on track, author of the 2nd time at 31 '' of SERRADORI or Guillaume GOMEZ, which was close to Formula 1 some years ago was 4th, 2 seconds behind Dominique HOUSIEAUX who continues to surf on the wave of success. Behind, we find the usual very good ones like the HUMMER of Miroslav ZAPLETAL, 6th, the FORD Raptor of Andrey CHEREDNIKOV, 7th, the BMW X3 of Victor KHOROSHAVTSEV, 8th and especially the KAMAZ trcuk of Andrey KARGINOV, 9th at only 4'45 ''. Moreover he complained of the limitation of the trucks at 150 km / h. The Russian ahead of Pascal THOMASSE for 14 '' only. A final word on the beautiful performance of Jean Noël JULIEN, navigated this year by his wife Rabha. With their OPTIMUS buggy, this very nice couple continues to progress and today gets the 12th time.
In the overall Auto / Truck rankings, Vladimir VASILYEV is still leading with a comfortable lead of 1h17'50 '' on the KAMAZ of Andrey KARGIMOV. Pascal THOMASSE is still hanging behind in 3rd position, 22 '' from the Russian truck. The suspense is therefore entire.
On Monday, January 8, 2017, the first of the two Mauritanian loops, Tiwilit / Tiwilit long of 440 kilometers, 414 of which are the selective stage, is announced as big pieces of the 2017 AFRICA ECO RACE®. A stage that could bring a bunch of surprises.
