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STAGE N°1 : 610 km
LIAISON : NADOR / AMEZIANE : 51 km
SPECIAL STAGE : AMEZIANE / DAR MIMOUN : 86 km
LIAISON : DAR MIMOUN / JORF EL HAMAM : 473 km
This first stage will be short. Traced not far from Nador where the AFRICA ECO RACE® caravan will arrive in the morning after crossing the Mediterranean from Sète, in the south of France, this selective sector will contain all the ingredients of an offroad rally except the Dunes. The track will be gravelly and rocky as a whole. The route will evolve in the heart of an agricultural zone with a relatively hard terrain, with many tracks, not always visible. Navigators will therefore need to be focused from the beginning. But by following the road book to the letter and anticipating a little, everything should go well. The drivers will have to be vigilant because in the last two years, two participants in the car category had to retire in this first stage. After the finish, there will still be another 473km of liaison to the first bivouac located near Errachidia.
MONDAY JANUARY 2nd 2017
NADOR / DOMAINE MOULAY
Stage : 610 km
Liaison NADOR / AMEZIANE : 51 km
Leg AMEZIANE / DAR MIMOUN : 86 km
Liaison DAR MIMOUN / DOMAINE MOULAY : 473 km
VERY TOUGH START
After unloading this Monday January 2nd morning in Nador, the AFRICA ECO RACE® started with its first leg in the north of Morocco of 86km. In theory this stage was supposed to be a smooth beginning. In reality, some recent rains transformed the course into a real challenge both for the drivers and the navigators. At the finish line, even though the gaps are close, we can definitely see some losers of the day but also some winners, for example Vladimir VASILEV with his MINI in the car category, Andrey KARGINOV with his KAMAZ in the truck category and the very surprising Gev SELLA on two wheels.
A FIRST FROM THE BIKES
Never, in the history of Rally Raid, has an 18 year old won a stage. That is now old history thanks to the young Israeli Gev SELLA who the stage on his KTM, 16 seconds in front of the HONDA Africa Twin from the Italian Paolo CECI. He was unlucky to have issues with his navigation and finished the stage with Pal Anders ULLEVASETER, who was himself 3rd of the day 1'59'' behind. The double winner of the race told us when he arrived : "I have not ridden with my KTM since last year and I need to get my sensations back. I didn't take to many risks and I am very impressed by the performance level of the HONDA driven by the Italian." Another impressive performance was from the one and only quad, the YAMAHA is driven by the Russian Aleksandr MAKSIMOV and he finished 6th overall only 8'45'' behind the first bike.
In the truck category, behind the KAMAZ we have the TATRA BONVER from the Czech Jaroslav VALTR closely in front of the full energized Portuguese MAN from Elisabeth JACINTO.
All the competitors had cleared the stage by 12 o'clock and started on a 400km liaison in order to get to the first bivouac of the AFRICA ECO RACE® 2017 in Domaine Moulay, not very far from Erfoud.
Tuesday January 3rd, the rally is heading west for the first dunes of the rally in order to arrive in LARJAME after a 370km leg which will start from the bivouac in order to arrive only 23km from TAGOUNITE where the AFRICA ECO RACE® will spend its second night.
STAGE RESULTS
BIKES
SS1 & GENERAL : G. Sella (Isr/KTM) in 1h14.00 ; 2 P. Ceci (Ita/Honda) at 0.16 ; 3 P.A. Ullevalseter (Nor/KTM) at 2.15 ; 4 D. Agoshkov (Rus/KTM) at 5.26 ; 5. S. Pelloni (Ita/Yamaha) at 8.25 ; 6 A. Maksimov (Rus/Yamaha) at 8.45 ; 7 N. Dubois (Fra/KTM) at 10.47 ; 8 H. RAHM (Sue/KTM) at 13.36 ; 9 D. Frederico (Por/KTM) at 14.47 ; 10 A.V. Azinhais (Por/KTM) at 15.31
AUTOS / CAMIONS
SS1 & GENERAL : V. Vasilyev - K. Zhiltsov (Rus/Mini) in 1h00.09 ; 2 T. Magnaldi - F.Borsotto (Fra/Buggy 2WD) at 1.03 ; 3 M.Serradori - F.Lurquin (Fra-Bel/Buggy SRT) at 5.35 ; 4 A. Karginov - A. Mokeev - Dmitrii Nikitin (Rus/Kamaz) at 6.08 ; 5 D. Housieaux - C.Crespo (FRA/Buggy Optimus) at 6.52 ; 6 J.A. Sabatier - A.Rizzardi (Fra-Ita/BuggaOne) at 7.16 ; 7 V. Khoroshavtsev - A. Nikolaev (Rus/BMW) at 7.19 ; 8 L.Baud - J.M Polatto (Fra/Buggy FDS) at 7.35 ; 9 B. Szalay - L. Bunkoczi (Hon/Opel) at 8.45 ; G. Gomez - L. Fagot (Fra/Buggy Optimus) at 9.14
