Tomorrow some 200 cars, bikes ans trucks will start the six e4dition of the Africa Eco Race (AER) from the French coastal city of St. Cyprien. The event was established in 2009 after the Dakar moved to South America and it basically follows the traditional routes of the Dakar.
The event is organised by, Rene Metge, two-time winner of the Ddakar in 1985 and 1986 in Porsche cars. He is assisted by Lose maria Servia, a former teammate of Jean Louis Schlesser. Schlesser is not entered this year, but apart from winning the Dakar twice in his 2WD buggy he has won the AER more times than any other competitor.
The total distance of the route is 5 800km. The rally consists of 13 stages 3 430km in length. The average length of the stages is about 300+km.
Altogether 130 cars and buggy’s have entered, 30 bikes and some ten trucks. The route will take the competitors through France, Morocco, Mauritania to the finish at Lac Rose in Dakar, Senegal, that used to be the traditional finish of the Dakar.
With about 30 bikes at the start, 13 different nationallties and 2 women in the race, the bike category should be more than interesting. Pal Anders ULLEVASETER from Norway, has taken part to many offroad rallies all around the world for the past 20 years and could use his experience to win his first BIG victory of his category.
The two women biker are , Patsy Quick fro Great Britain and the very
fast Anastasiya NIFONTOVA, 2014 Vice World Champion of the FIM Rally Championship
In the Car category, if you play the prediction game, lucky is the one who will be able to guess the winner or even the final podium. Indeed, either in 4×4 or 2WD, the pack
will very homogeneous and therefore some nice battles should take place. With a lot of experience acquired by competing on the previous 6 past edisons, Jacky LOOMANS and his TOYOTA Overdrive pick up are for sure one of the favorites
.
But the Belgian will have to be on his best as his countryman Erwin IMSCHOOT has just acquired the exact same machine, same as Kazakhstan’s Kanat SHAGIROV. Balazs SZALAY from Hungary, who was one of the favorites in 2014 before the
engine of his OPEL Prototype 4×4 broke,
The competitors are coming from Bulgaria, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the
United States of America, the Emirates and even from Namibia. It’s so far a total of 29
nationaliies who will take the start.