‘We were alone in the desert,’ says Matthieu Baumel, navigator of Nasser Al-Attiyah, who managed to take the lead in the overall ranking. ‘No bikes, no quads, no tracks ahead of us. We were opening the stage and this is nice from a navigation point of view but the cars behind us will always be faster!’ With navigation as the main factor the spirit of desert racing is back on the podium in second stage of the Pharaons Rally 2015!
Second behind Nasser Al-Attiyah is Vladimir Vasilyev, winning the stage using Nassers’ tracks. Yazeed is currently third, but these numbers can change easily as the difference between the topriders is only minutes. Nasser is happy with the result today: ‘We had Yazeed after 65 kilometers, but lost him when we choose a different route. In the dunes we were much faster so we could overtake him again!’
Tomorrow the honour of opening the stage goes to Mohamed Abu Issa on him quad. ‘I have never done this before!’ he responds. ‘For a quad rider it is very rare to open the stage but they let me start as first tomorrow!’ Today he finished as first quad, flying through the dunes. ‘When the sun is above you, the sand turns completely white, with no contrast at all! Luckily we were overtaken by the cars so I had a little bit of shade from their tracks, otherwise I would not have been so fast!’
Juan Carlos Salvatierra is another rider battling with the ‘overture’, finding the way on the tracks. ‘We have new rules from the FIM allowing the riders to select the startorder, and I had to start first today. It is difficult for me as the other guys just follow the track and are much faster.’ Al Balooshi had a good day, winning the stage minutes before the others. He is tired when he arrives in the bivouac but quickly picks up as he hears about the results. ‘This is great for my position overall!’ he smiles.
Going from rookie to World cup podium candidate in less than five years? Adam Malysz from Poland did it. ‘Today I finished third with the Mini,’ he smiles happily. The sportsman is famous in Poland for his skiing career and has turned to rallyraid. But five years is very short. ‘I spend a lot of time training,’ he explains. Driving a buggy, a Subaru and doing a lot of work in the gym help him to get into shape for the Worldcup. ‘When I was a ski-jumper my weight was 52 kilos. Currently it’s 67 kilos, and mostly done in the gym,’ he grins. ‘I think with enough dedication you can do it too!’
The atmosphere near the car of Yazeed is a bit dim after the stage. ‘We had an unlucky day,’ he says. ‘In the dunes we got stuck and we lost a lot of time, needing the sand plates, the shovel and the hydraulic lift.’ With 5.20m behind Nasser Al-Attiyah not everything is lost: the Hilux is incredible on the long straights and faster than the Mini. As the next days will be fast, there is still enough room for Yazeed to catch the leader of the game.
Erik van Loon and Wouter Rosegaar lose a lot of time with a problem in the power steering of the car. ‘We drove 50km without power steering, which is hardly possible. Erik has the arms of a bodybuilder now, it was very tough. Going slow did not help, we thought we lost the race and the world cup with this one incident. Luckily the problem could be fixed so after CP1 we managed to continue and reach the finish. But believe me, it took a while before we had our rhythm again!’
As the Pharaons Rally progresses the first results in the T3 class become visible. With the new rules this year it is possible to build a ’T1 light’ for the T3 class, a car based on an original drivetrain, original axles but with a tubular frame. This leads to beautiful Polaris 1000’s, modified by Marco Piano who has won the Dakar 4 times in this class but also to an interesting Hilux driven by Raul Orlandi: ‘Basically it’s a ‘light’ T1 car, with a standard Toyota engine and drivetrain. It makes the car quite fast and keeps it affordable. In Qatar we even reached the 11th place in the overall car ranking!’
The unparalleled beauty of the Egyptian desert will be the backdrop for the third stage of the Pharaons Rally, with fast tracks and some dunes. This terrain has the advantage of speed for the Overdrive Hilux, but with the navigational challenges we are curious to see what will happen in the overal ranking after tomorrow!
Story and photo by: Niels Hatzmann Dutch Rally Press