Dutch Rally Press
The first real stage between Domaine Moulay near Erfoud and Tagounite not far from Mahmid in Morocco, took place on Tuesday January 3rd 2017. A real stage of Off Road rally with navigation, the first dunes and the track both technical and fast. A selective sector of 370 km which has already done damage among the serious contenders of the 2017 Africa Eco Race while for others the race runs smoothly.
It was 2°C this morning in the region of Erfoud when the first motorbike piloted by the very young Teddy Gev Sella took the start at 7:45. For his first big off-road Rally, this young man of 18 years old was not even impressed to have to open the track. Rightly because the pilot of the N°128 KTM approached without any problem a portion before the dunes of Merzouga where many of his experienced opponents were worried about. As a results, he fell without any damage and was then taken over by Paolo Ceci and his powerful Africa Twin, Gev Sella signs the 2nd time of the day behind the Italian driver who offers to Honda the first victory of its new allroad bike. Good performance also for the Moroccan Harite Gabari who finishes 3rd of the special stage. On the other hand, Pal Anders Ullevalseter finished only 5th, behind Martin Benko, almost 46 minutes from the first bike. An underperformance for the Norwegian after falling and damaging the controls of his KTM, especially that of unusable front brake. So, the double winner of the event only finishes 3rd overall behind Ceci and Sella, at 46’36 ”. But he is still racing, which is not the case of the French Norbert Dubois, victim of a fall within a kilometer of the finish. There is a suspicion of a vertebrae fracture, the Parisian will unfortunately not, finish his 7th Africa Eco Race
THE MINI AND THE KAMAZ ARE PUSHING HARD
In terms of bad news of the day, we also note the big mechanical break in a trench at kilometer 22 of Mathieu Serradori’s SRT Buggy. Even if the Frenchman had been able to get out of the special stage by his own and he could probably repair it, he can forget any ambition of victory. Same situation but in worse for Elisabete Jacinto whose MAN was striked by a engine fire right in the Merzouga dunes. This year, and for the first time in 8 participations, the Portuguese will not see the Lake Rose.
Fortunately, there are those for whom the day went without problem. Notably Vladimir Vasilyev who completed the special stage at an average speed of 100 km/h at the wheel of his Mini. Obviously, the Russian won, relegating his opponents to more than 20 minutes behind. Once again, the impressive Kamaz of Andrey Karginov made the show by being 2nd in the scratch. The truck beat Pascal Thomasse and his Optimus Buggy by 44 seconds. It was also the day of the French team MD Rallye Sport since Guillaume Gomez finishes 4th and Dominique Housieaux 8th. A result that is a good performance, like that of Thierry Magnaldi, 5th after having a little bit gardened or also Jean Antoine Sabatier, 6th while remaining cautious while waiting for the second week in Mauritania. A wisdom that has already paid for the french moroccan in the past and some of which should be inspired because a number of crews had not yet joined the bivouac at 9:00 pm at the time of the daily briefing of René Metge.
In the general ranking, the Mini of Vasiliev is in the lead with a little more than 25 minutes ahead of the 2WD Buggy of Thierry Magnaldi, pursued very closely by the Kamaz of Karginov. With three Optimus buggies in the top 10, Guillaume Gomez, Pascal Thomasse and Dominique Housieaux are ideally placed to place an attack.
RESULTS
BIKES SS2
1 P. Ceci (Ita/Honda) in 4h42.56 ; 2 G. Sella (AFS/KTM) at 1.35 ; 3 H. Gabarit (Mar/KTM) at 29.45 ; 4 M. Benko (SLQ /KTM) at 45.14 ; 5 P.A. Ullevalseter (Nor/KTM) at 45.56 ; 6 D. Agoshkov (Rus/KTM) at 48.18 ; 7 J. Zatko (Slo/KTM) at 1h05.20 ; 8 H. Rahm (Sue/KTM) at 1h12.52 ; 9 S. Pelloni (Ita/Yamaha) at 1h16.37 ; 10 B. Young (Aus/KTM) at 1h25.33
Overall
1 P. Ceci (Ita/Honda) in 5h57.12 ; 2 G. Sella (AFS/KTM) at 1.19 ; 3 P.A. Ullevalseter (Nor/KTM) at 46.36 ; 4 H. Gabarit (Mar/KTM) at 48.06 ; 5 D. Agoshkov (Rus/KTM) à 1h13.28 ; 6 M. Benko (SLQ /KTM) at 1h22.49 ; 7 S. Pelloni (Ita/Yamaha) at 1h24.46 ; 8 J. Zatko (Slo/KTM) at 1h24.52 ; 9 H. Rahm (Sue/KTM) at 1h26.12 ; 10 B. Young (Aus/KTM) at 1h46.49
CARS / TRUCKS SS2
1 V. Vasilyev – K. Zhiltsov (Rus/Mini) in 3h48.25 ; 2 A. Karginov – A. Mokeev – D. Nikitin (Rus/Kamaz) at 20.05 ; 3 P. Thomasse – P. Larroque (Fra/Buggy Optimus) at 20.49 ; 4 G. Gomez – L. Fagot (Fra/Buggy Optimus) at 23.32 ; 5 T. Magnaldi – F.Borsotto (Fra/Buggy 2WD) at 24.22 ; 6 J.A. Sabatier – A. Rizzardi (Fra-Ita/BuggaOne) at 31.00 ; 7 P. Sireyjol – FX. Beguin (Fra-Bel/Buggy LCR 30) at 31.16 ; 8 D. Housieaux – C. Crespo (Fra/Buggy Optimus) at 37.01 ; 9 A. Cherednikov – D. Tsyro (Kaz-Ukr/Ford) at 38.28 ; 10 S. Kuprianov – A. Kuprianov – A. Tanin
Overall
1 V. Vasilyev – K. Zhiltsov (Rus/Mini) in 4h48.34 ; T. Magnaldi – F.Borsotto (Fra/Buggy 2WD) at 25.25 ; A. Karginov – A. Mokeev – D. Nikitin (Rus/Kamaz) at 26.13 ; 4 G. Gomez – L. Fagot (Fra/Buggy Optimus) at 32.46 ; P. Thomasse – P. Larroque (Fra/Buggy Optimus) at 35.49 ; J.A. Sabatier – A. Rizzardi (Fra-Ita/BuggaOne) at 38.16 ; D. Housieaux – C. Crespo (Fra/Buggy Optimus) at 46.53 ; A. Cherednikov – D. Tsyro (Kaz-Ukr/Ford) at 48.10 ; J. Valtr – R. Pilny – F. Skrobanek (RTC/Tatra) at 50.42 ; M. Zapletal – M. Sykora (SLQ/Hummer) à 59.59
Photos A.Rossignol/J.Cunha