Africa Race 2013

[Brodovitch]

Originally Posted by schattat

I can't believe on what a roll Guillaume is on!
Dad said he had gearbox issues on his bike, couldn't shift at certain times and was losing oil. Skipped the day yesterday but back en route today!

Is it because of the Hummer kiss? What a shame, good to see he is still fighting for a finish though

[barrier]

SONANGOL AFRICA ECO RACE Sunday 6th January 2013 8th Stage: Akjoujt/Akjoujt 477 km of which 320 km is Special ANOTHER BIG DAY ! Fabulous Mauritanie The 8th stage of the Sonangol Africa Eco Race was described as the most beautiful of the rally by race director René METGE. He described the landscape in terms of difficulties and the sandy wind that blew all day long complicated the challenge for the competitors. Jean Louis SCHLESSER again crossed all the obstacles to win in the car/truck category whilst Guillaume MARTENS won a splendid victory in the bike class. Some may have thought that the 320 km of Special, a loop around Akjoujt, would be a formality. If this was the case, they were gravely mistaken because to carry out this distance, it took Jean Louis SCHLESSER 5:28’36'' and Guillaume MARTENS came back to camp on two wheels after 7:35’46''. This Mauritanian stage in the heart of such breathtaking landscape didn't give our competitors any rest. Also, the sand on the range of dunes was very soft and navigation was extremely difficult because of the sandy wind blowing constantly in the North of Mauritania. Jean Louis SCHLESSER and Cyril ESQUIROL When he finally climbed out of his SONANGOL buggy, Jean Louis SCHLESSER was particularly marked by his efforts, but 'the boss' had to smile having just completed another perfect race during which he was even able to guide the bikes: "As we came out of the first range of dunes, just before the CP1, all of the bikes were grouped together. In fact, they were looking for the pass because René had told us that there was only one possible exit. I went ahead and they all followed me. It was rather bizarre and this episode was filmed by the cameramen of the rally. Then, we were wide open the whole time. It was a very, very difficult but magnificent Special that will definitely leave unbelievable memories behind for those who completed it." The bikers have followed Jean Louis SCHLESSER Patrick MARTIN Jean Louis SCHLESSER didn't go into too much detail but when we spoke to Patrick MARTIN and Yves FROMONT, respectively 2nd and 4th on this Special in the car class both driving a Tarek VOLKSWAGEN, we realised that what happened on the 8th stage was exceptional. A special mention goes to Joost VAN CAUWENBERGE, who clocked the 3rd time of the day in his TOYOTA Pick Up V8, having left a long way behind this morning. Finally, Guillaume JORDA and Xavier LORMAND, continue to fly the colors of Saint Cyprien having classified in 5th place on this momentous Special and got into the top 10 of provisional general classification. On the other hand, some lost a lot of time on this loop such as Jérôme PELICHET, who went out of the Special at CP1 and returned to camp by road. Also, Miroslav ZAPLETAL's HUMMER engine blew up and he won't be continuing the rally tomorrow. Guillaume JORDA Joost VAN CAUWENBERG Overall, Jean Louis SCHLESSER is alone at the top and we need to look down to 4th place in order to find his closest rival in the car class, Russian Anton GRIGOROV in his OSCAR who is 5:06’57'' from the leader and is in front of the VW Tarek of Yves FROMONT, for the moment on the podium. Anton GRIGOROV Yves FROMONT The big players in the 2013 Sonangol Africa Eco Race are unquestionably the trucks who have made unbelievable progress. In fact, once again today, the battle raged between these monsters of the desert and it was finally Elisabete JACINTO who was victorious with 22’59'' of advance over the TATRA of Tomas TOMECEK, whilst Dmitri SOTNIKOV in the KAMAZ classified in 3rd 11 seconds behind him and the Czech Miklos KOVACS in his SCANIA was 2 minutes further back. Overall, the KAMAZ is in 2nd position on scratch in the car/lorry class with a little more than 2 hours of advance over the TATRA whilst the MAN, 3rd in the lorry class, is 8th on scratch and more than 3 and a half hours behind the leader. Elisabete JACINTO Tomas TOMECEK The day was equally as hard on two wheels as four in the bike class and they still hadn't returned to camp by nightfall. Amongst them, Norbert DUBOIS was unquestionably the biggest loser of the day. In the lead at CP1, the Frenchman then got lost and finally ran out of fuel 30 km from CP2. A hard blow for the Parisian who, as a result, will not be able to win the Sonangol Africa Eco Race again this year. The victory will probably now be fought out between the two leaders, Belgian Martin FONTYN and Dutchman Guillaume MARTENS who won the stage 11’52'' in front. As usual, Patrick ARNOULT showed good consistency by finishing in 3rd, 22’29'' behind and equally takes 3rd position overall by a little more than an hour. It's all still to play for. Martin FONTYN Guillaume MARTENS If the 8th stage was difficult then the 9th between Akjoujt and Tenadi will be even harder. René METGE described it as the most difficult on the 5th edition of the Sonangol Africa Eco Race. On the program for Monday January 7th, there'll be 441 km of dunes, plateaus, camel grass, crossings and off piste all with complicated navigation. Enough to mix up the leader board of the different classifications... RACE IN LIVE ON : www.africarace.com PRESS CONTACT Thierry SCHARFF GSM : +33 (0)6 63 44 23 61 Email : presse@africarace.com AFRICA RACE FTP ADRESS WITH PICTURES CPOPYRIGHT FREE : CONTACT US

[HellasRally]

The news have a mistake??
Results and Tracking show Martin Fontyn 1st overall and today's stage


sorry just found out, it is old news

[Brodovitch]

Nope, no mistake... Fontyn won the stage and is leading the overall by about an hour over Guillaume

[Stagehand]

this is EFFIN CRAZY

[Gian]

results after stage 9

Etape 9 AKJOUJT / TENADI
Classement Général - 07/01/2013		16 concurrent(s) classé(s)

Pos	pgr	N°	Nat.	Pilotes	Marque	Grp/Pos	Cl/Pos	Scratch	Diff 1er	Péna
1	+1	169		FONTYN Martin	KTM	+450 / 1	/ 1	50:15:54
2	+1	122		MARTENS Guillaume	KTM	+450 / 2	/ 2	51:17:48	01:01:54
3	+1	117		ARNOULT Patrick	HONDA	450 / 1	/ 1	52:22:09	02:06:15	00h08
4	+1	114		PALACIOS Joseph	KTM	450 / 2	/ 1	54:45:24	04:29:30
5	+1	125		LESAGE Pierre	KTM	+450 / 3	/ 3	57:00:54	06:45:00	00h65
6	+1	104		KINIGADNER Klaus	KTM	450 / 3	/ 2	57:28:17	07:12:23
7	+1	103		BLOEB Gregor	KTM	450 / 4	/ 3	57:39:54	07:24:00	00h03
8	+1	102		CONREAU Christophe	HONDA	450 / 5	/ 2	59:17:37	09:01:43	00h65
9	+1	124		HORWATH Christian	YAMAHA	450 / 6	/ 3	60:45:34	10:29:40	02h06
10	+2	111		MORETTI Tobias	KTM	450 / 7	/ 4	64:42:04	14:26:10	02h03
11	0	107		PROCACCINI Alfredo	KTM	450 / 8	/ 4	66:01:18	15:45:24	11h30
12	+1	112		SAUER Joachim	KTM	450 / 9	/ 5	66:40:59	16:25:05	04h00
13	+2	120		PELZMANN Klaus	YAMAHA	450 / 10	/ 5	71:59:22	21:43:28	12h00
14	+2	109		CUSUMANO Guido	YAMAHA	450 / 11	/ 6	80:47:35	30:31:41	13h17
15	+4	115		SCHATTAT Thomas	YAMAHA	450 / 12	/ 7	116:50:48	66:34:54	48h00
16	+5	110		DI BATTISTA Luciano	HM	+450 / 4	/ 1	145:36:49	95:20:55	80h00

[Brodovitch]

And the riders are off on the last Special before tomorrow's ceremonial sprint at the lac Rose





Fontyn and Guillame in the lead on the course, and Thomas Schattat in the middle of the pack

Martin Rabenlehner is still feeling very sick and is staying in the bivouac, he will probably do a simple transfer route towards Koba to regroup with the bivouac there in the afternoon.

[barrier]

The 9th stage of the Sonangol Africa Eco Race was announced as monstrous. Fortunately, the sand supported the vehicles better than expected and most of the competitors got through this 442 km long Special. The fastest was the Egyptian "Mido" ABOUYOUSSEF who, driving his Tarek VOLKSWAGEN, won himself his first victory in the car class whilst Anton SHIBALOV imposed with his KAMAZ in the lorry category and Martin FONTYN won on two wheels.

After the demanding loop around Akjoujt yesterday, René METGE spoke plainly when he announced at the briefing that the 9th stage between Akjoujt and Tenadi would be even more difficult. And so the director of the Sonangol Africa Eco Race gave maximum information to the competitors and the organization would accompany the survivors of the 5th edition over the next to last day in Mauritania. In fact, everything went to plan except a few problems for some of the bike riders who struggled. Everyone got back to the magnificent camp planted in the heart of the dunes in Tenadi that evening.

Martin FONTYN It's at this point of a race that the word 'hero' starts to spring to mind... The bike riders in this all terrain rally were incredible. In fact, Martin FONTYN, the winner of the Special on two wheels, had to battle for more than 7 hours on his KTM 525 to cross the finish line. Again, the Belgian didn't have a single problem and that relegated Guillaume MARTENS on his KTM 690 back 43’49''. On the eve of the ultimate stage, this impressive veteran reinforced his place as overall leader and he now has 1:01’54'' of breathing space from the Dutchman, who was exhausted at the end of the Special: "This Special was really terrible. I'm so tired. I such bad arm pump at a certain point that I couldn't even accelerate anymore. I lost a lot of time today but the race isn't over and I still believe I can win."

Guillaume MARTENS

Joseph PALACIOS Still with the bikes, we should note an especially magnificent performance from Joseph PALACIOS that placed his KTM 450 on the 3rd step of the podium that day, also getting ahead of Patrick ARNOULT on his HONDA who has been practically irreproachable in the category since the beginning of the race.

Mido ABOUYOUSSEF

At the finish of the Special that was installed around fifty kilometers from Nouakchott, the car and lorry competitors were all in agreement that they had just taken part in an exceptional stage, combating all of the difficulties that an African race has to offer. "A man's Special stage" as Yves FROMONT commented, who finished 2nd copiloted by his son John driving his Tarek VOLKSWAGEN. A superb performance for this VW buggy constructed about ten years ago but still looks as fresh as ever. The proof, Abdelhamid ABOUYOUSSEF, "Mido" to his friends, won with his Tarek. It was a superb victory, as Stéphane HENRARD had achieved two years ago at Tenadi, with the same buggy on the same stage. Having left in next to last position, the Egyptian who is also the organiser of the Rally of the Pharaohs, bypassed the difficulties to finally win with 9’56'' of advance over the FROMONT family and 13’05'' in front of Jean Louis SCHLESSER who was apparently satisfied about maintaining first place overall. So a very happy Mido commented on the first victory of his career in front of the Sonangol Africa Eco Race cameras: "I attacked this morning because I wanted to wipe away the insult of my failure in the 7th Special. I didn't make any driving mistakes today and my copilot, Mahmoud NOURELDIN, was absolutely perfect. Before this rally, I'd never raced a two wheel drive buggy and I had to get used to it. Now I think that I understand how this wonderful vehicle works and I hope that this victory will be the first of many."

Day's winners Yves FROMONT

Behind the three buggies, Joost VAN CAUWENBERG was the first 4x4 to cross the finish line. The TOYOTA Pick Up V8 driver said that he enjoys driving such a fabulous vehicle. The Belgian finished 18’32'' behind and got ahead of the crew who have been the revelation of the 2013 Sonangol Africa Eco Race; Guillaume JORDA and Xavier LORMAND. The two friends from Saint Cyprien swap seats every day; it was Xavier who drove today and got back in a well deserved 6th place on scratch that allowed the RMA buggy to enter into the top 10.

Jean Louis SCHLESSER Xavier LORMAND

In the truck category, the KAMAZ was again driven today by Anton SHIBALOV who clocked the 4th fastest time of the day whilst Tomas TOMECEK finished 7th in his TATRA about twenty minutes from the Russians and just 2 minutes in front of the MAN of Elisabete JACINTO.

Anton SHIBALOV

In the provisional general classification, just two days from the finish, Jean Louis SCHLESSER is still on track for his 5th victory in five participations. In fact, the SCHLESSER SONANGOL buggy now has almost 3 hours of advance over the KAMAZ of Anton SHIBALOV and Dmitry SOTNIKOV whilst Tomas TOMECEK is lying 3rd nearly five and a half hours behind. On the other hand, the car podium is far from being decided as the Russian Anton GRIGOROV in his OSCAR is only two minutes in front of the FROMONT father and son team and also Joost VAN CAUWENBERG is only about twenty minutes off the pace.

Tomorrow, the last Special in Mauritania will also be the ultimate timed sector of the 5th edition of the Sonangol Africa Eco Race. Even though the stage consists of 648 km between Tenadi and Koba, the Special will be comparatively short as the survivors of the rally will only have 196 km to navigate. This doesn't mean that the test is over because it's often the last day when the overall positions change...

RACE IN LIVE ON : www.africarace.com

[Brodovitch]

Alien status established

waiting for today's results, I can see thay all finished the Special and should be at the bivvy...

Final day tomorrow, Lac Rose!

[Stagehand]

442k's! now Thats a special!

[Brodovitch]

Hell yes

Video recap of yesterday, Stage 9

[Brodovitch]

Fontyn just arrived at the bivouac, Guillaume almost there, Thomas en route... the liaison after the special was a mind numbing 471kms today

Last day tomorrow

[wrk2surf]

Go Tony's Dad !!

[schattat]

Originally Posted by wrk2surf

Go Tony's Dad !!

Thanks again for the support You do realise he has a name, right?

[Stagehand]

Originally Posted by schattat

Thanks again for the support You do realise he has a name, right?

Go Thomas! Hey Tony did you help build his bike?