Sealine Rally : UNE NOUVELLE VICTOIRE DU POLARIS RZR 900 XP XTREME+ !

 Le Sealine Rally, qui se déroulait au Qatar, s'est terminé aujourd'hui. L'équipe Xtreme+ de Marco Piana peut s'enorgueillir d'une nouvelle victoire en T3 grâce à Yassir Saedan, navigué par Sébastien Delaunay.
L'équipage franco-saoudien s'est également offert une très belle 14e place au général malgré les pistes 100% cailloux et les crevaisons difficilement évitables.
Aujourd'hui, Yassir Saedan est en tête du championnat du Monde en T3 et prévoit de courir une Baja en Europe et le Rallye des Pharaons.

Sealine Qatar Rally : Troisième étape.

Sealine Cross-Country Rally, Qatar - April 22nd-26th, 2013
2013 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, round 3

2013 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Cup, round 2

For immediate release
Friday, April 26th, 2013



SCHLESSER, COMA AND SONIK SEAL VICTORY

IN QATAR'S SEALINE CROSS-COUNTRY RALLY



Second places for Holowczyc, Gonçalves and Al-Kitbe
Gonçalves and Coma provide grandstand finish to thrilling bike race
Fourth selective section wins for Schlesser, Lopez and Sonik
Broken brake disc sidelines Qatar’s Faisal Al-Attiya
DOHA (Qatar): Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser, Spaniard Marc Coma and Pole Rafal Sonik claimed outright victories in their respective car, motorcycle and quad categories of the four-day 2013 Sealine Cross-Country Rally, which finished in southern Qatar on Friday.



The trio held on to their overnight advantages in very different circumstances to clinch the wins after a punishing all-desert route of over 1,500km had tested both man and machine to the limit. Schlesser, Chilean rider Francisco Lopez and Sonik were triumphant on the fourth and final stage.



Schlesser and his Russian co-driver Konstantin Zhiltsov started the final selective section with an advantage of 25min 46sec over the Polish driver Krzysztof Holowczyc and Schlesser surged into the lead of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies with his first win of the new season by the eventual margin of 31min 18sec.



“Yes, very happy, a nice but difficult race,” said Schlesser. “It was not so easy and I catch my finger in the steering wheel in a hole today, but the win has put us in a good position.”



Holowczyc reached the finish in second overall with his Mini All4 Racing and the Overdrive Racing Toyota Hiluxes of Venezuelan Nunzio Coffaro and Kazakh Aidyn Rakhimbayev were third and fourth.



“Second place is the first loser,” reflected Holowczyc. “This race was ideal for the Buggies, fast, open and bumpy. With the new regulations, we don’t have the power and have to rely on reliability. We see with Nasser, like on the Dakar, he was fast but the car was not reliable. If the rules are not changed the future is for the Buggy!”



Coma needed a very different strategy to claim his second successive victory in the motorcycle category. The factory KTM rider started the final stage with a 2min 04sec advantage over Portugal’s Paulo Gonçalves and knew full well that the Speedbrain team rider would be playing catch up over the early kilometres.



But the Portuguese lost his way a little early on and Coma was able to extend his lead into the passage control. Thereafter, there had been some overnight rain and the Spaniard was a little more cautious to ensure that he kept to the correct route. Gonçalves began to close and Coma saw his rival behind for the first time after around 190km.



The much-vaunted grandstand finish ensued over the closing kilometres and the pair crossed the finish line inseparable, with Gonçalves gaining two minutes but Coma winning the race by just four seconds.



“Phew, that was tough. A very tough race, very difficult in all areas, but I am very happy,” said Coma. “The long distance, the navigation, the weather – this race has really gone to a high level. I lost some time in some loose sand after the passage control, but I saw Paulo after about 190km and it was exciting all the way to the finish.”



“I gave it a good try and I am happy with second position,” said the Portuguese runner-up. “It was a really close few days and a hard race with four long days. I lost my way a little by not looking at the road book at the start but I was able to come back strong. In Abu Dhabi, the gap to Marc was 32 and here it was just four seconds.”



Pole Jakub Przygonski finished third and stage winner Lopez was fourth.



Sonik began the final stage with a massive lead of 1hr 33min 49sec over the UAE’s Obaid Al-Kitbe in the quad class. Last year’s champion made no mistake for the second year running and the quickest time ensured that he maintained his 100% success rate in Qatar. Al-Kitbe claimed the runner-up spot and local rider Mohammed Abu Issa was third.



“This rally was much more difficult that any of us expected,” said Sonik. “It was physically demanding, but also we had the strong winds, the rocks and the navigation. I am so happy to finish the last stage with no mistakes and make sure I get the win. After each of the first three days we thought that it would get easier, but it did not. This rally is a fantastic lesson to anyone who wants to learn about cross-country rallies!”



Day 4 – as it happened



Instead of tackling the full 275.50km selective section used by the cars, bike and quad riders crossed a shorter 238.49km stage, after taking a different course from PC1 to rejoin the main route at the second passage control for the cars.



The big question was whether Gonçalves could catch Coma and manage to squeeze into at least a four-second lead on the drag race to the stage finish. He began the stage two minutes behind the Spaniard on the road and needed to beat the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Cup leader by 65 seconds to win the event.



But Coma has seen this tense situation before and the Spaniard attacked hard from the start to maintain the gap between the two. He reached PC1, after 112.52km, with his overall lead increased by a further 2min 08sec. Nearly half the stage was completed and the Portuguese had not been able to make in-roads into Coma’s lead at all. He was also caught by Przygonski.



Coma stayed hard on the gas through the next crucial kilometres, but Gonçalves, Prygonski and Lopez grouped closer together and the Speedbrain rider managed to close in on the leader en route to the Inland Sea. The Portuguese was putting on a late charge as the media waited anxiously at the finish line to see if it would indeed be a ‘motocross-style’ shoot-out to decide the outcome.



The duo did not disappoint and they crossed the finishing line together. Gonçalves had managed to take exactly two minutes from the Spaniard, but those four vital seconds were a bridge too far and Coma held on to take the narrowest of victories in thrilling circumstances.



Sonik had been the quickest quad rider to PC1 from Al-Kitbe and Pablo Copetti and the Pole held on to take a comfortable win in the category. Al-Kitbe and Qatar’s Mohammed Abu Issa were third.



Schlesser settled cosily into third position on the stage behind Holowczyc and Rakhimbayev and just needed to stay out of trouble to conserve his 25min 46sec lead and seal a maiden Sealine win. Faisal Al-Attiya started from third position on the road but the Qatari’s topsy-turvy rally ended 33km into the stage when he broke a brake disc and retired.



Schlesser reached PC1 with a virtual stage lead of 34 seconds over Holowczyc and extended that advantage to 56 seconds at PC2, as he closed in on the Sealine title. The Frenchman shadowed the Pole to the finish to seal victory by the margin of 31min 18sec and claim the stage win into the bargain.



Russian Alexander Barenenko almost lost his chance of claiming the T2 category win on the final stage. Peruvian Raul Orlandini claimed the stage win, but the Russian finished high enough to confirm the class victory in his Toyota and take sixth in the overall standings.



Positions on SS4 – 275.50km (238.49km for bikes) -unofficial @ 11.20hrs:

Cars

1. Jean-Louis Schlesser (FRA)/Konstantin Zhiltstov (RUS)            Schlesser Original 2hr 49min 15sec

2. Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)/Andreas Schulz (DEU) Mini All4 Racing            2hr 54min 47sec

3. Peter van Merksteijn Jnr. (NLD)/Eddy Chevallier (BEL) Ford                  2hr 57min 32sec

4. Nunzio Coffaro (VEN)/Daniel Meneses (VEN) Toyota Hilux                   2hr 58min 55sec

5. Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ)/Vladimir Demiyanenko (RUS) Toyota Hilux     3hr 01min 37sec



Bikes

1. Francesco Lopez (CHL) KTM 450 Rally Replica                          2hr 31min 56sec

2. Jakub Przygonski (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica              2hr 33min 46sec

3. Paulo Gonçalves (PRT) Speedbrain 450 Rally                             2hr 34min 38sec

4. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica                              2hr 36min 38sec

5. Juan Carlos Salvatierra (BOL) Honda CRE F 500 X                  2hr 40min 59sec



Quads

1. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700                                                3hr 14min 39sec

2. Adel-Hussain Abdullah (QAT) Yamaha Raptor 700                   3hr 35min 26sec

3. Pablo Copetti (ARG) Yamaha Raptor 700                                3hr 35min 45sec

4. Mohammed Al-Shamsi (ARE) Honda TRX 700                          3hr 36min 18sec

5. Obaid Al-Kitbe (ARE) Honda TRX 700                                                3hr 44min 05sec

6. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT) Yamaha Raptor 700                   3hr 44min 45sec

          

Overall positions after SS4 (unofficial @ 11.20hrs):

Cars

1. Jean-Louis Schlesser (FRA)/Konstantin Zhiltstov (RUS)            Schlesser Original 16hr 11min 33sec

2. Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)/Andreas Schulz (DEU) Mini All4 Racing            16hr 42min 51sec

3. Nunzio Coffaro (VEN)/Daniel Meneses (VEN) Toyota Hilux                   17hr 30min 45sec

4. Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ)/Vladimir Demiyanenko (RUS) Toyota Hilux     17hr 47min 15sec

5. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Maciej Marton (POL) Hummer H3 Evo             18hr 09min 22sec



Bikes

1. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica                              17hr 09min 57sec

2. Paulo Gonçalves (PRT) Speedbrain 450 Rally                             17hr 10min 01sec

3. Jakub Przygonski (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica              17hr 13min 13sec

4. Francesco Lopez (CHL) KTM 450 Rally Replica                          17hr 17min 42sec

5. Juan Carlos Salvatierra (BOL) Honda CRE F 500 X                  18hr 47min 02sec

6. Quinn Cody (USA) Speedbrain 450 Rally                             19hr 35min 31sec



Quads

1. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700                                                21hr 28min 41sec

2. Obaid Al-Kitbe (ARE) Honda TRX 700                                                23hr 31min 56sec

3. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT) Yamaha Raptor 700                   24hr 50min 11sec

4. Pablo Copetti (ARG) Yamaha Raptor 700                                24hr 55min 03sec

5. Mohammed Al-Shamsi (ARE) Honda TRX 700                          25hr 52min 13sec

          

Ends

Sealine Qatar Rally : Troisième étape, le communiqué de presse !

Sealine Cross-Country Rally, Qatar - April 22nd-26th, 2013
2013 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, round 3

2013 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Cup, round 2

For immediate release
Thursday, April 25th, 2013



HOLOWCZYC, COMA AND ADEL HUSSEIN RECORD STAGE

THREE WINS IN QATAR'S SEALINE CROSS-COUNTRY RALLY



Schlesser, Coma and Sonik maintain race leads after three days
Norwegian Ullevalseter loses gears and then falls and breaks his leg
DOHA (Qatar): Poland’s Krzysztof Holowczyc, Spaniard Marc Coma and Qatar’s Adel Hussein Abdullah recorded the fastest selective section times in the car, motorcycle and quad categories on the third and penultimate day of the 2013 Sealine Cross-Country Rally in southern Qatar on Thursday.



Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser, Coma and Poland’s Rafal Sonik retained the overall category leads. Schlesser, who lies second in the FIA World Cup standings after two rounds, will start the final leg with a comfortable unofficial lead of 25min 46sec over Mini driver Holowczyc, who lost vital time changing two flat tyres near the end of the stage.



Kazakh Aidyn Rakhimbayev recorded the second quickest time in his Overdrive Toyota Hilux and Qatar’s Faisal Al-Attiya (Hummer) was third, despite losing a lot of time stuck on the ridge of a sand dune near the finish. Venezuelan driver Nunzio Coffaro holds third overall in the second Belgian-built Toyota.



“We lost our chance to gain the time back today,” said Holowczyc’s disgruntled co-driver Andreas Schulz. “Schlesser was waiting for us not far from the end on a dune. He did not want to open the road tomorrow. That is the game. But we also had two punctures and that cost us a lot of time.”



Coma will start the final leg with a 2min 04sec lead over Portugal’s Paulo Gonçalves in the motorcycle class and the pair could be set for a thrilling ‘motocross-style’ showdown over the closing kilometres to determine the winner on Friday.



“For three days now we have been finishing the stages together,” said the Portuguese. “I will try hard tomorrow, but even if I catch the two minutes, it will be difficult to finish four seconds in front of him to take the win. I must also make sure I finish to get the points for the Speedbrain team.”



Coma was upbeat about his chances on the factory KTM: “You know motocross at the end perhaps, maybe even a sprint finish like a cycling race. We will see!” Poland’s Jakub Przygonski holds third position and Chile’s Francisco Lopez is fourth.



Norwegian rider Pal-Anders Ullevalseter started the day in fourth overall, a mere 14 seconds behind Coma, but he fell and broke his femur shortly after the second passage control and was airlifted to hospital for medical attention. He had fallen back with gearbox problems before the crash.



Sonik maintained his quad category lead heading into the final day. The Pole, winner in 2012, has a massive advantage over the UAE’s Obaid Al-Kitbe, although he was pushed hard for the day’s stage win by the resurgent Adel Hussein Abdullah and the Qatari claimed the stage win when Sonik incurred a 20-minute time penalty.



Day 3 – as it happened



A mere 14 seconds separated the top four riders at the start of the third stage, although leader Coma had the slight benefit of following his main rivals into the desert and the onus was on Lopez to perform accurate navigation from the outset.



By the first passage control, at 109.56km, the leading quintet had been locked in a fascinating tussle for supremacy and Coma had the slight edge. He was running just seven seconds quicker than Gonçalves, but the pair had begun to catch Lopez, Przygonski and Ullevalseter. The Norwegian was caught and overtaken by the Portuguese and he lost over two minutes to his rival.



At refuelling, after 193.33km, Coma had begun to press home his advantage and the Spaniard was running just behind Gonçalves. His virtual stage lead was 2min 15sec. Przygonski and Lopez were riding close together in third and fourth, but Ullevalseter had dropped behind after losing three gears. He dropped seven minutes to Coma and any chance of winning the Sealine event had gone.



Al-Kitbe continued his excellent run of form after his day one set back to take the early lead in the quad category from Mohammed Al-Shamsi and Sonik. But the Emirati and the Pole regained the upper hand by PC2 and Al-Shamsi was the virtual stage leader heading to the third checkpoint.



Coma’s plan of attack was on full song through the third PC after 286.72km and the Spaniard manage to pass his four rivals and edged into a 2min 31sec virtual stage lead over Gonçalves, as the leading duo and Przygonski and Lopez arrived together at the control. Ullevalseter had been running with crippling gearbox issues but he fell after the refuelling point, broke a leg and personally summoned immediate medical assistance by telephone.



Coma held on to his lead to seal the stage win by 2min 01sec to ensure that he took an overall advantage of 64 seconds into the final leg on Friday. Gonçalves was second and Sonik maintained the overall lead in the quad section, despite a useful ride by Adel Hussein Abdullah to claim the stage win.



Car driver Schlesser began day three with a comfortable 35min 34sec advantage over Holowczyc and headed off into distance once again. Coffaro and Rakhimbayev took up the pursuit once Toyota team-mate Martin Kaczmarski stopped near the stage start. The rookie had been feeling ill overnight and was given medical permission to restart after an examination.



Schlesser was 15 seconds in front of Rakhimbayev at PC1, but the revelation of the morning had been Qatar’s Faisal Al-Attiya in his Hummer. After feeling unwell on Wednesday, the local driver restarted in eighth position on the road and he was well ahead of Schlesser at the first checkpoint. Holowczyc reached the PC 46 seconds in front of the Frenchman in second position.



Al-Attiya continued his charge through the middle part of the stage and had overtaken everyone except for Schlesser by PC2. He was 12min 33sec in front of the Frenchman as the route meandered north through the southern Qatar wilderness. He soon passed Schlesser as well and reached PC3 with a lead of 23min 10sec over Schlesser.



Al-Attiya stopped after the third passage control and the chasing pack moved in front once more, but Holowczyc also ground to a halt on the run north with two flat tyres and still finished the special in first position after Schlesser and Coffaro lost time trying to find the correct track and Al-Attiya got stuck on the crest of a sand dune.



Tomorrow



Competitive action draws to a close on Friday with the fourth selective section in the southern Qatar desert. The stage begins 1.04km from the Sealine bivouac and runs for 275.50km to a finish 6.19km from the service area and podium, where the finishing celebrations will take place at 16.00hrs.



Positions on SS3 – 407.10km (unofficial @ 13.30hrs):

Cars

1. Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)/Andreas Schulz (DEU) Mini All4 Racing            4hr 23min 55sec

2. Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ)/Vladimir Demiyaneko (RUS)    Toyota Hilux     4hr 26min 37sec

3. Faisal Al-Attiya (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Hummer                        4hr 29min 25sec

4. Nunzio Coffaro (VEN)/Daniel Meneses (VEN) Toyota Hilux                   4hr 33min 34sec

5. Jean-Louis Schlesser (FRA)/Konstantin Zhiltstov (RUS)            Schlesser Original 4hr 33min 43sec



Bikes

1. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica                              4hr 40min 35sec

2. Paulo Gonçalves (PRT) Speedbrain 450 Rally                             4hr 42min 36sec

3. Jakub Przygonski (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica              4hr 46min 37sec

4. Francesco Lopez (CHL) KTM 450 Rally Replica                          4hr 48min 36sec

5. Quinn Cody (USA) Speedbrain 450 Rally                             5hr 14min 59sec



Quads

1. Adel-Hussain Abdullah (QAT) Suzuki ATV                                6hr 08min 59sec

2. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700                                                6hr 23min 40sec

3. Obaid Al-Kitbe (ARE) Honda TRX 700                                                6hr 34min 48sec

4. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT) Yamaha Raptor 700                   6hr 43min 57sec

          

Overall positions after SS3 (unofficial @ 13.30hrs):

Cars

1. Jean-Louis Schlesser (FRA)/Konstantin Zhiltstov (RUS)            Schlesser Original 13hr 22min 18sec

2. Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)/Andreas Schulz (DEU) Mini All4 Racing            13hr 48min 04sec

3. Nunzio Coffaro (VEN)/Daniel Meneses (VEN) Toyota Hilux                   14hr 31min 50sec

4. Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ)/Vladimir Demiyanenko (RUS) Toyota Hilux     14hr 45min 38sec

5. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Maciej Marton (POL) Hummer H3 Evo             14hr 55min 09sec



Bikes

1. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica                              14hr 33min 19sec

2. Paulo Gonçalves (PRT) Speedbrain 450 Rally                             14hr 35min 23sec

3. Jakub Przygonski (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica              14hr 39min 27sec

4. Francesco Lopez (CHL) KTM 450 Rally Replica                          14hr 45min 46sec

5. Juan Carlos Salvatierra (BOL) Honda CRE F 500 X                  16hr 06min 03sec, etc



Quads

1. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700                                                18hr 14min 02sec

2. Obaid Al-Kitbe (ARE) Honda TRX 700                                                19hr 47min 51sec

3. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT) Yamaha Raptor 700                   21hr 05min 26sec, etc                  

Ends



To follow live tracking:

http://vulcain.iritrack.net/tdcom/eviewer/qatar2013

To follow live results/positions:

http://vulcain.iritrack.net/tdcom/posi/qatar2013/web/index.php/display/index/

Dakar Tour Hollande : l’autre pays du camion

Hier soir, les organisateurs du Dakar avaient rendez-vous à Eindhoven pour l’étape hollandaise du Dakar Tour. On y a beaucoup parlé de camions…

Sur la dernière édition du Dakar,  les Pays-Bas représentaient la deuxième nationalité, avec 102 concurrents répartis dans 54 véhicules. Tradition oblige, c’est dans la catégorie camion que les pilotes hollandais présentaient la plus forte densité. Bien qu’ils ne soient pas parvenus à s’opposer au retour en grâce des Kamaz, signataires d’un podium 100 % russe, le vainqueur 2012 Gerard De Rooy et ses coéquipiers se sont tout de même positionnés comme les contradicteurs les plus solides, tandis que 5 néerlandais au total étaient présents dans le Top 10. Dès lors, c’est naturellement à Eindhoven qu’a été organisée en marge du Dakar Tour une réunion sur les enjeux et perspectives de la catégorie, où étaient notamment conviés Ales Loprais et Vladimir Chagin. Après une série de discussions techniques, les ténors de la catégorie ont rejoint l’ensemble des invités à la conférence de présentation de l’édition 2014. Il y a encore été question de camions, puisque le team Ginaf a annoncé qu’en janvier prochain, un véhicule sera confié à Kees Koolen, qui deviendra ainsi le premier concurrent engagé dans toutes les catégories, après avoir participé au Dakar à moto, en auto et en quad ! Hormis la révélation de cette statistique historique, les pilotes hollandais ont également pu exprimer leurs ambitions dans les autres catégories. Ce sera le cas avec Frans Verhoeven, à nouveau vainqueur d’étape cette année mais toujours en quête d’une place dans le Top 5. En autos, les espoirs pour une place d’honneur reposeront sur les membres du Team Wevers, et particulièrement de Bernhard Ten Brinke, tout récemment classé 2ème sur l’Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, derrière Nani Roma. La montée en régime se poursuit… 

SEALINE QATAR RALLY : 2e ÉTAPE POUR SCHLESSER ET CHALECO !

Sealine Cross-Country Rally, Qatar - April 22nd-26th, 2013
2013 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, round 3

2013 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Cup, round 2

For immediate release
Wednesday, April 24th, 2013



DAY TWO STAGE VICTORIES FOR SCHLESSER, LOPEZ AND

AL-KITBE IN QATAR'S SEALINE CROSS-COUNTRY RALLY



Schlesser and Coma maintain overall car and bike leads
Poland’s Rafal Sonik comfortably in front in quad class
Al-Attiyah retires with engine worries after damaging oil filter
DOHA (Qatar): Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser, Spaniard Marc Coma and Poland’s Rafal Sonik maintained their overall leads in the respective car, motorcycle and quad categories after the second and longest selective section of the 2013 Sealine Cross-Country Rally in Qatar on Wednesday.



But the day’s stage wins fell to Schlesser, Chile’s Francisco Lopez and Emirati Obaid Al-Kitbe. “Nice to get the stage win again but we had a problem near the end,” said Schlesser, who extended his lead to over 35 minutes. “I stopped about 20km from the end. There was a difficult dune and it caught me by surprise. I could not start the car, so I waited for a few minutes and we managed to get going again.”



His closest rival Krzysztof Holowczyc also stopped in the soft sand for several minutes on the run north to the stage finish after overcoming an earlier time-consuming puncture, but he maintained second overall with the sixth quickest time. Poland’s Martin Kaczmarski, Venezuelan Nunzio Coffaro and Kazakh Aidyn Rakhimbayev were second, third and fourth on the day’s stage in three Overdrive Toyotas.



Local hero Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah began brightly and was comfortably the quickest car driver until a stray stone damaged his Buggy’s oil filter after the first checkpoint and forced the disappointed Qatari out of the event.



“I hit nothing. It was just a stone that hit the oil filter and we lost the oil,” said a dejected Al-Attiyah. “We could do nothing other than to stop. On our Buggy the oil filter is low down and this can happen – on other Buggies, like Schlesser, it is higher up. Now we will try and carry out some testing while the team is here over the coming days.”



Marc Coma maintained an unofficial overall lead of just three seconds, despite being caught by his closest rivals on the tricky stage and running in convoy to the finish. Lopez won the special by 1min 39sec and retained fifth. Poland’s Jakub Przygonski and Norway’s Pal-Anders Ullevalseter were second and third and now hold fourth and third in the overall standings, with Paulo Gonçalves in second.



“It is never easy to push and make a lead when you are first on the road and you have difficult navigation,” said Coma. “It is easy for the riders behind to see the lines. I tried to push at one point and made an escape but I had to stop to fix a problem with my seat and lost about a minute. Tomorrow I start behind, so we will see.”



“It’s nice to win the stage but it was not so easy,” said Lopez. “This rally is much longer and more difficult than last year. It is a good test for me and the bike and good training with the navigation. The 30km of dunes at the end were nice but the pace was fast among the leading riders.”



Rafal Sonik was passed soon after the start by Obaid Al-Kitbe, but the Pole held on to take second among the quads on the day’s stage and he maintains a sizeable advantage heading into day three. Al-Kitbe duly claimed the stage win by over 34 minutes.



Reinaldo Varela and Gustavo Gugelmin, who had crashed their car heavily over a cut face dune near the end of Tuesday’s stage, were detained in hospital with both Brazilians suffering from compression fractures to their vertebrae. The incident bore an uncanny resemblance to the one that had injured Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Alex Winocq in the recent Ha’il Rally in Saudi Arabia.



Day 2 – as it happened



Faisal Al-Attiya suffered a miserable first day in his powerful Hummer. After sustaining a puncture, the Qatari was forced to wait several hours for support and was unable to finish the stage. He started day two from 19th overall with massive time penalties.



Czech driver Miroslav Zapletal had stopped to assist the Brazilians at the scene of the crash on Tuesday and, as per the regulations, clerk of the course Pedro Almeida gave the 34 minutes back to the driver that had been lost at the incident. Zapletal restarted in third position.



Overnight leaders Coma, Sonik and Schlesser were first on the road in the motorcycle, quad and car categories, but Aidyn Rakhimbayev was awarded a 30-minute penalty before the restart for missing a waypoint on Tuesday and the Kazakh slipped from third to eighth overall in the car section.



Emirati Obaid Al-Kitbe was also awarded a penalty of 1hr 20min for missing five waypoints and he slipped to fourth in the quad order behind Sonik, Paulo Copetti and Mohammed Abu Issa. Minor three-minute speeding penalties were also awarded to Kaczmarski and Coffaro.



Coma and Goncalves pulled away from the chasing group through the early section of the stage, as Ullevalseter, Przygonski and Lopez trailed in their wake. The Spaniard and the Portuguese were locked in a classic game of cat and mouse but Lopez reached PC1 after 83.63km with the quickest virtual time. Gonçalves had managed to reduce Coma’s overall lead by 1min 41sec. The top five were well clear of the rest of the field and Al-Kitbe passed Sonik to lead the quads.



By refuelling, after 197.57km, the top five were running close together in increasingly windy conditions and Lopez maintained the advantage from Przygonski and Ullevalseter. Coma maintained a tiny virtual overall lead.



Lopez kept his stage advantage into PC3 and sealed the stage win with a time of 4hr 46min 23sec. All five front-running riders arrived within seconds of each other at the flying finish and Coma was fifth but retained the overall lead.



Running first on the road meant the added burden of accurate navigation fell to Schlesser, while Al-Attiyah was reseeded to fourth and promised the flat-out attack in his bid to catch the Frenchman. Predictably, the Qatari soon passed Zapletal and closed in and overtook Holowczyc before reaching PC1 4min 06sec faster than his Polish rival.



But Al-Attiyah was forced to stop again before the second checkpoint after breaking the oil filter and all his hard work was undone. The Buggy was towed back to the Sealine bivouac and Al-Attiyah is hoping to carry out some testing in the coming days with a second Dakar-spec engine installed in the Buggy.



Schlesser was the quickest driver into PC2 and PC3 and reached the stage finish 8min 52sec quicker than Kaczmarski to extend his overall lead. Coffaro and Rakhimbayev finished third and fourth, but Holowczyz spent vital minutes trying to free a damaged tyre after the wheel got caught on a brake caliper.



Tomorrow



Competitors tackle the penultimate selective section of the event on Thursday – a 407.10km timed test that starts 3.93km from the Sealine camp and finishes just 1.13 km away. Again the route uses a vast array of different terrain, including dunes, fast tracks, rocky trails and sandy piste, with the emphasis on accurate navigation.



Positions on SS2 – 413.19km (unofficial @ 13.00hrs):

Cars

1. Jean-Louis Schlesser (FRA)/Konstantin Zhiltstov (RUS)            Schlesser Original 4hr 28min 12sec

2. Martin Kaczmarski (POL)/Bartlomiej Boba (POL) Toyota Hilux                   4hr 37min 04sec

3. Nunzio Coffaro (VEN)/Daniel Meneses (VEN) Toyota Hilux                   4hr 39min 02sec

4. Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ)/Vladimir Demiyaneko (RUS)    Toyota Hilux     4hr 40min 42sec

5. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Maciej Marton (POL) Hummer H3 Evo             4hr 45min 48sec

6. Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)/Andreas Schulz (DEU) Mini All4 Racing            4hr 47min 02sec



Bikes

1. Francesco Lopez (CHL) KTM 450 Rally Replica                          4hr 46min 23sec

2. Jakub Przygonski (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica              4hr 48min 02sec

3. Pal-Anders Ullevalseter (NOR)   KTM 450 Rally Replica              4hr 50min 08sec

4. Paulo Gonçalves (PRT) Speedbrain 450 Rally                             4hr 52min 01sec

5. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica                              4hr 53min 58sec



Quads

1. Obaid Al-Kitbe (ARE) Honda TRX 700                                                5hr 20min 49sec

2. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700                                                5hr 55min 14sec

3. Mohammed Al-Shamsi (ARE)Honda TRX 700                                    5hr 56min 49sec



Overall positions after SS2 (unofficial @ 13.00hrs):

Cars

1. Jean-Louis Schlesser (FRA)/Konstantin Zhiltstov (RUS)            Schlesser Original 8hr 48min 35sec

2. Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)/Andreas Schulz (DEU) Mini All4 Racing            9hr 24min 09sec

3. Martin Kaczmarski (POL)/Bartlomiej Boba (POL) Toyota Hilux                   9hr 57min 37sec

4. Nunzio Coffaro (VEN)/Daniel Meneses (VEN) Toyota Hilux                   9hr 58min 16sec

5. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Maciej Marton (POL) Hummer H3 Evo             10hr 04min 49sec

6. Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ)/Vladimir Demiyaneko (RUS)    Toyota Hilux     10hr 19min 01sec



Bikes

1. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica                              9hr 52min 44sec

2. Paulo Gonçalves (PRT) Speedbrain 450 Rally                             9hr 52min 47sec

3. Jakub Przygonski (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica              9hr 52min 50sec

4. Pal-Anders Ullevalseter (NOR)   KTM 450 Rally Replica              9hr 52min 58sec

5. Francesco Lopez (CHL) KTM 450 Rally Replica                          9hr 57min 10sec

6. Juan Carlos Salvatierra (BOL) Honda CRE F 500 X                  10hr 49min 08sec

7. Khalid Khamis Ozair (UAE) Honda CRF 450 X                                  11hr 07min 56sec, etc



Quads

1. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700                                                11hr 50min 22sec

2. Obaid Al-Kitbe (ARE) Honda TRX 700                                                13hr 13min 03sec

3. Pablo Copetti (ARG) Yamaha Raptor 700                                13hr 59min 00sec    

4. Mohammed Al-Shamsi (ARE)Honda TRX 700                                    14hr 14min 03sec

5. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT) Yamaha Raptor 700                   14hr 21min 29sec                

QATAR SEALINE RALLY : SCHLESSER, COMA ET SONIK REMPORTENT LA PREMIÈRE SPÉCIALE

Sealine Cross-Country Rally, Qatar - April 22nd-26th, 2013
2013 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, round 3

2013 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Cup, round 2


Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013



SCHLESSER, COMA AND SONIK LEAD AFTER

FIRST DAY OF SEALINE CROSS-COUNTRY RALLY



Demanding Qatar desert route takes its toll on competitors
Brake problems threaten Al-Attiyah’s Sealine victory challenge
Varela crashes out; Holowczyc and Rakhimbayev second and third
DOHA (Qatar): Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser, Spaniard Marc Coma and Poland’s Rafal Sonik led their respective car, motorcycle and quad categories after a punishing opening 405.12km selective section of the 2013 Sealine Cross-Country Rally across the deserts of southern Qatar on Tuesday. 



Pre-rally favourite Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah may have lost his chance of retaining the Sealine car title after grinding to a halt with rear brake caliper issues before the first passage control. The Qatari holds seventh overall and ceded over 65 minutes to stage winner Schlesser, while he and Lucas Cruz Senra made emergency repairs and then faced further delays later in the stage. Al-Attiyah must now mount a fascinating fight back over the remaining three days.



“Not good, we had a problem with the brake, the left caliper, after 20km and we lost maybe one hour,” said Al-Attiyah. “Then, I push and we get back some time but the power steering was leaking fluid and we had a small fire. And we got lost. We have to see now what the problems are before we look to tomorrow.”



Schlesser, the ‘Desert Fox’, finished 16min 44sec in front of Polish Mini driver Krzysztof Holowczyc, despite the difficult navigation that placed an extra burden on his Russian co-driver Konstantin Zhiltsov.



Brazilian Reinaldo Varela lost third place near the stage finish after a front impact damaged his Toyota. This paved the way for the three other Overdrive Racing Toyota Hiluxes of Kazakh Aidyn Rakhimbayev, Venezuelan Nunzio Coffaro and Poland’s Martin Kaczmarski and Saudi Arabia’s Ahmed Al-Shegawi (Nissan) to round off the unofficial top six.



“Once we passed Nasser it was difficult to open the road and still drive quickly,” said Schlesser. “The stage was not so hard on the car but we needed to concentrate all the time. I know that Nasser will push hard tomorrow but he can do his own race. My priority is to finish and collect points for the World Cup.”



Coma managed to snatch the early advantage from Portugal’s Paulo Gonçalves in a tense motorcycle contest. The leading riders were bunched together for long periods, but the Spaniard was able to edge the stage win from Gonçalves by the margin of 2min 04sec. Norway’s Pal-Anders Ullevalseter took third and Poland’s Jakub Przygonski was fourth.



“It was a big mix today with fast roads, stony, piste and very tricky navigation,” said Coma. “I tried to push a little and then they catch me back, but it was not easy. You had to be so focused. Tomorrow, I start first and the game changes again. But I have made a good start.”



Emirati Obaid Al-Kitbe lost his chance to secure the quad title on the last day in 2012 and his cruel luck struck again. He led for much of the stage before falling behind Poland’s defending champion Rafal Sonik and stopping short of the finish. Sonik, riding a Honda TRX700, will now take a 37min 06sec advantage into Wednesday’s second stage after Al-Kitbe managed to get going again. The UAE’s Atif Al-Zarouni and Qatar’s Adel Hussein Abdullah failed to complete the stage after technical problems.



Day 1 – as it happened



Twenty-four cars, 13 bikes and seven quads reached the start of the first selective section and Luis Calderay-Gonzalez was the first rider into the desert for the start of the day’s 405.12 competitive kilometres shortly after sunrise. Coma started from 10th position and defending quad champion Rafal Sonik was 14th of the 20 riders in the field.



Lopez started fourth and soon overtook his three rivals to reach the first PC at 83.42km with a virtual stage time of 57min 52sec, although Gonçalves and Coma later passed the checkpoint with a quicker time and the Portuguese held the early stage lead with an interim time of 53min 44sec. The UAE’s Khalid Al-Falasi was badly delayed with mechanical issues before the time control and returned to the Sealine camp.



Coma had edged 2min 16sec in front of Gonçalves at the second checkpoint after 180.33km and Al-Kitbe led Sonik in the quad class. The Spaniard increased his lead by a second through PC3 at 289.51km, with Gonçalves, Ullevalseter, Przygonski and Lopez staying in contention, although the leading group of five riders reached the stage finish together.



Coma recorded the fastest time in just under five punishing hours. Engine woes sidelined Adel Hussein Abdullah near Dukhan on the extreme west of the route, as Sonik snatched the quad stage win once Al-Kitbe was delayed in the final kilometres.



Al-Attiyah led 23 rivals into the car action in his Desert Buggy and was running in front of Schlesser until his car ground to a halt after 20km. This opened the door for a number of his rivals to take up the challenge and Schlesser reached PC2 with the quickest time. Faisal Al-Attiya’s ex-Gordon Hummer also stopped prematurely, although both he and Nasser managed to repair their cars and continue at a fast pace to try and claw back the lost time.



Schlesser used his vast experience to pull clear of the chasing pack and closest rivals Varela and Zapletal after Holowczyc and Peter Van Merksteijn Jnr. also stopped with technical trouble. The Frenchman was four minutes clear of Varela through PC2 and over 16 minutes in front of Zapletal. Al-Attiyah reached the checkpoint one hour behind Schlesser and in a virtual 10th overall.



The Qatari climbed to fifth through PC3 and eventually reached the stage finish in seventh after a dramatic morning when the car also caught fire and he suffered navigational woes. Schlesser won the special by 16min 44sec from a resurgent Holowczyc, but Varela stopped near the finish.



Tomorrow



Competitors tackle the longest section of the entire event on Wednesday – a 413.19km selective section that starts 5.6km from the bivouac and finishes at the same place as Monday. The stage offers a wide range of tracks and challenges to competitors and accurate navigation will be crucial across the myriad of winding desert trails. Bikes again take the stage start from 05.45hrs and cars follow from 07.00hrs.



Positions after SS1 (unofficial @ 14.00hrs):

Cars

1. Jean-Louis Schlesser (FRA)/Konstantin Zhiltstov (RUS)            Schlesser Original 4hr 20min 23sec

2. Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)/Andreas Schulz (DEU) Mini All4 Racing            4hr 37min 07sec

3. Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ)/Vladimir Demiyaneko (RUS)    Toyota Hilux     5hr 08min 19sec

4. Nunzio Coffaro (VEN)/Daniel Meneses (VEN) Toyota Hilux                   5hr 16min 14sec

5. Martin Kaczmarski (POL)/Bartlomiej Boba (POL) Toyota Hilux                   5hr 17min 33sec

6. Ahmed Al-Shegawi (KSA)/Arif Yousef Mohammed (UAE) Nissan             5hr 24min 30sec

7. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Lucas Cruz Senra (ESP)    Desert Buggy    5hr 25min 08sec



Bikes

1. Marc Coma (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica                              4hr 58min 46sec

2. Paulo Gonçalves (PRT) Speedbrain 450 Rally                             5hr 00min 50sec

3. Pal-Anders Ullevalseter (NOR)   KTM 450 Rally Replica              5hr 02min 46sec

4. Jakub Przygonski (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica              5hr 04min 48sec

5. Francesco Lopez (CHL) KTM 450 Rally Replica                          5hr 10min 47sec

6. Juan Carlos Salvatierra (BOL) Honda CRE F 500 X                  5hr 30min 01sec

7. Khalid Khamis Ozair (UAE) Honda CRF 450 X                                  5hr 49min 33sec

8. Mohammed Al-Balooshi (UAE) KTM 450 Rally Replica                  5hr 50min 53sec, etc



Quads

1. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700                                                5hr 55min 08sec

2. Obaid Al-Kitbe (ARE) Honda TRX 700                                                6hr 32min 14sec

3. Pablo Copetti (ARG) Yamaha Raptor 700                                7hr 22min 13sec

4. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT) Yamaha Raptor 700                   7hr 40min 34sec

5. Mohammed Al-Shamsi (ARE)Honda TRX 700                                    7hr 42min 14sec

RALLYE DES PHARAONS - NEWS

A moins de 6 mois du départ qui aura lieu aux Pyramides de Giza, les organisateurs du Rallye des Pharaons sont heureux d'annoncer la participation - d'ores et déjà confirmée - du vainqueur de la dernière édition, l'Espagnol Joan Barreda et de son coéquipier, le Portugais Paulo Goncalves. Etape après étape, dune après dune, cette année encore leur but ultime sera de porter au sommet les couleurs de leur team Speedbrain.

Dans la catégorie "autos", de nombreux concurrents de l'édition 2012 seront au départ de cette nouvelle édition. Au départ on trouvera entre autres les équipages Zapletal/Marton (Offroadsport), Matzker/Lee et Krech/Reitbauer (Team Matzker), on notera aussi la présence des frères De Lorenzo pour leur onzième participation au Rallye des Pharaons qui déclarent "Nous revenons toujours avec plaisir au Pharaon".

Ce résultat est gratifiant pour les organisateurs qui apportent depuis toujours une grande attention aux besoins de tous les concurrents, des amateurs courageux qui désirent se mesurer aux champions, jusqu'aux équipes officielles testant pilotes et véhicules en vue des grands Rallyes de fin de saison. Le Pharaon est un Rallye pour tous !

Nous offrons 3000 km d'étapes sélectives avec des transferts réduits et un parcours toujours plus difficile, avec des Spéciales longues et exigeantes. Atteindre les Pyramides est une récompense qui paie en retour tous les efforts fournis durant la semaine de course.

Comme d'habitude, les moins expérimentés pourront quitter à tout moment n'importe quelle Spéciale et rattraper la route jusqu'au bivouac, afin de récupérer ou réparer leur véhicule, tout en s'alignant au départ le jour suivant, avec des pénalités bien sûr.

Afin de simplifier la logistique et le travail des assistantes, nous n'aurons que deux lieux de bivouac - équipés de toutes les commodités, dont un restaurant traiteur qui satisfera tous les gourmets.

Les tarifs réduits finissent à la fin du mois de Mai!

Ne manquez pas l'opportunité de vivre les émotions intenses de l'unique rallye Africain des championnats du Monde F.I.A. et F.I.M.

Contact: info@pharaonsrally.com ou 0039.331.8349916

Dakar World Tour : un air de retrouvailles

Buenos Aires, le 12 avril 2013





Les sept étapes argentines du Dakar 2014 ont été annoncées hier à Buenos Aires, lors d’une cérémonie où les médias et les responsables politiques du pays ont exprimé leur joie d’accueillir à  nouveau le départ de la course. Le rendez-vous est fixé à Rosario, pour une première étape en direction de San Luis, le 5 janvier. 

 A distance raisonnable du départ du Dakar 2014, Buenos Aires vibre déjà pour la course qui a maintenant intégré le patrimoine sportif argentin, depuis sa première visite en Amérique du sud pour l’édition 2009. L’année dernière, les aficionados du moteur s’étaient notamment déplacés en masse à Tucuman pour la journée de repos, mais avaient été invités à la patience pour connaître à nouveau l’effervescence du départ du rallye. Lors de la présentation de la prochaine édition, dans le cadre prestigieux du Palacio Duhau, Etienne Lavigne a ressenti un enthousiasme proportionnel à cette attente chez ses interlocuteurs, qu’ils soient journalistes, Ministre du tourisme comme Enrique Meyer, gouverneur des provinces de San Luis, de Santa Fe et de Salta, ou encore maire de Rosario. « Je sens comme un air de retrouvailles, et c’est une fierté de constater que le Dakar est autant désiré. Le rallye bénéficie d’un intérêt énorme, et nous sommes ravis de partir en 2014 de Rosario, la troisième ville du pays, qui va à son tour connaître l’ambiance unique du grand départ », détaille le patron de la course, qui a aussi précisé que la partie argentine de la course proposera au moins une étape marathon. Soucieux de préparer au plus sérieusement le rendez-vous, de nombreux pilotes argentins, comme Orlando Terranova, leur meilleur représentant en autos en 2013 (5ème), ont fait le déplacement à la cérémonie. Parmi eux, le vainqueur de la catégorie quads, Marcos Patronelli, a pu faire part de sa fierté de figurer sur l’affiche de l’édition 2014. « Je ne pouvais absolument pas m’y attendre, c’était à la fois une énorme surprise et une belle émotion de découvrir le visuel », a glissé Marcos à Etienne Lavigne. Voilà pour le tenant du titre un nouvelle source de motivation pour tenir son rang en janvier prochain, de Rosario à Valparaiso.

 Les étapes argentines du Dakar 2014

·         5 janvier : Rosario - San Luis
·         6 janvier : San Luis - San Rafael
·         7 janvier : San Rafael - San Juan
·         8 janvier : San Juan - Chilecito
·         9 janvier : Chilecito - Tucuman
·         10 janvier : Tucuman - Salta
·         11 janvier : Journée de repos à Salta
·         12 janvier : Salta - Salta

ABU DHABI DESERT CHALLENGE : Victoire de Marc Coma en moto et de Nani Roma en auto. Le RZR XTREME+ termine en 10e position !

 Pas de chance pour Sam Sunderland qui avait fait une très belle course mais le pot d'échappement de sa Honda a cassé dans la dernière spéciale. Ensuite, après avoir longtemps parlé avec son mécanicien, il a oublié de passer dans le portique de la ligne d'arrivée et s'est pris 10' de pénalité... La victoire revient donc à Marc Coma devant Paolo Gonçalves et Sam Sunderland.

En auto, victoire de Nani Roma devant Schlesser et Ten Briken.
Mais magnifique performance de Saeiden navigué par Sébastien Delaunay sur le RZR Polaris de XTREME+. Ils terminent dixièmes juste derrière les voitures officielles... Mini, Schlesser, Mitsubishi, Toyota Overdrive... BRAVO !!


COMMUNIQUÉ DE PRESSE !

Abu Dhabi, UAE, 11th April, 2013: Nani Roma clinched his first victory in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge today to round off a dominant display in the cars category, while Marc Coma edged his way to a record seventh win in the bikes class to complete a unique double triumph for Spain.

Despite a third stage win in successive days by defending champion Jean Louis Schlesser on the 296km Abu Dhabi Aviation Stage 5, Roma and French co-driver Michel Perin in a Mini won by

20 mins 58 secs from the familiar blue buggy of the veteran French driver, a six-times winner of the event.

Coma’s bikes triumph came after Sam Sunderland collected a ten minute penalty overnight for a basic technical infringement, denying the Dubai-based British rider a brilliant start-to-finish victory as a reward for outshining the reigning world champion and a host of other stars of cross country rallying. Coma won by just 32 seconds from Portugal’s Paulo Goncalves.

Also celebrating victory at the finish was Qatar’s Mohammed Abu-Issa who came through a series of major scares on theAbu Dhabi Aviation Stage to capture the quads title at the first attempt, winning by just over three minutes from the UAE’s defending champion Obaid Al Kitbe.

Celebrating at the finish, a delighted Roma said: “It’s always nice to win, and the Desert Challenge is really difficult so it’s a good feeling, but I’m also happy for the whole team. In this sport you need a lot of people around you, so this victory was for everyone involved in the team.

“The first three days were really tough because I had to open the stage, so I had to go fast but not make mistakes. After that I could relax a little and sit on my lead. A lot of credit must go to Michel in the co-driver seat for getting us around.”

Bitterly disappointed to have lost his chance of victory, Sunderland finished third and remained philosophical at the end.“It was a really good week for me but I made a big mistake yesterday,” he said. “During liaison I went to talk to the mechanic about my broken exhaust late in the race and after talking to him I forgot to go through the final two gates and got a ten minute penalty. I’m really gutted, but those are the rules.”

Coma, who has now won the Desert Challenge bikes title five years in a row, said: “I’m very happy to win but feel sorry for Sam because it was clear he was the fastest rider over the five days and deserved his victory. But those are the rules and we have to abide by them.

“For me I was just riding easy for the first three days and just trying to get used to the desert again. I rode harder today, but I knew I had to ride cleanly and not make any mistakes.”

New quads champion Abu-Issa, the third Qatari to claim a Desert Challenge title after cars victories by Saeed Al Hajri (1993) and Nasser Al Attiyah (2008), said: “My air filter was clogged 4km from the finish and my engine just stopped. I had to rip it out and crawl to the finish.”

“It feels great to finish and to win the quads. It was close today because I was leading by 14 minutes coming into the last stage but I made three big mistakes that cost me 12 odd minutes. Luckily, I still won so it’s an amazing feeling, especially because this is my first Desert Challenge. It’s been an unbelievable five days.”

Five days of world-class cross country rallying have reinforced the status of the Desert Challenge as one of sport’s top events. “It was another great week, and a lot of the competitors are already looking ahead to next year,” said Dr. Mohammed Ben Sulayem, event founder and President of the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE, the rally organisers.


“We have two new champions and it could have been three. It was very disappointing for Sam to lose the bikes title that way after he had been in control. He’s very disappointed now, but will learn from this. He has a bright future ahead of him, and many more years in the Desert Challenge.”

Now heading for its 24th edition next year, the event continues to inspire. Veteran Austrian rider Klaus Schwingenschloegl said: “I’m 62 and the first time I competed here was 15 years ago when it was basically just like a rally. Now if you ask any of the top pro cross country riders they will tell you this is the toughest cross country rally for bikes in the world. I’m really proud to have finished at my age.”

Another rider, Frenchman Christophe Sapy, could not hold back the tears at the finish. “It’s beautiful, tough, I made it,” he said. “I had some bike problems. I’m overcome by emotion, I can’t describe it. I will definitely be back next year.”

Provisional results - Cars

1. Nani Roma / Michel Perin (ESP / FRA) MINI All 4 Racing X T1                        16:38.02

2. Jean Louis Schlesser / Konstantin Zhilstov (FRA /RUS) Schlesser Orignal          17:05.00

3. Bernhard Ten Brinke / Matthieu Baumel (NLD / FRA) HRX Ford X T1             17:47.54

4. Erik Van Loon / Wouter Rosegaar (NLD / NLD) HRX Ford X T1                      17:57.40

5. Krystof Holowczyc / Schulz Andreas (POL / GER) MINI All 4 Racing X T1     18:27.34

6. Miroslav Zapletal / Maciej Marton (CZE / POL) Hummer H3 X T1                     19:07.12

7. Leonid Ogorodnikov / Anton Nikolaev (RUS / RUS) Toyota Hilux T1               19:34.30

8. Stephan Schott / Holm Schmidt (GER / GER) MINI All 4 Racing T1                 19:55.36

9. Martin Kaczmarski / Bartlomiej Boba (POL / POL) Toyota Hilux T1                   20:38.31

10. Yasir Saeidan (SAU) / Sebastien Telauny (FRA) Polaris T3                                20:59.36

Bikes

1. Marc Coma Camps  (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica                       14:23.51

2. Paulo Goncalves (PRT) Speedbrain 450 Rally                               14:24.23

3. Sam Sunderland (UAE) Honda CRF 450 X                                  14:32.36

4. Pal Anders Ullevalseter (NOR) KTM 450 Rally                            14:41.03

5. Jakub Przygonski (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica                          14:41.53

7.  Juan Salvatierra Carlos (BOL) HM Honda CRE F 500 X                        15:26.01

6.  Tedeusz Blazusiak (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica                       15:27.12

8.  Miran Stanovnik (SVN) KTM 450 Rally Replica                         15:41.22

9.  Khalid Khamis Ozair (UAE) Honda CRF 450 X                         16:05.43

10.Sean Linton (GBR) KTM 500 EXC                                             16:22.02

TROPHÉE JCO

JCO, LA PASSION A L’ETAT PUR !!!



Bonjour à tous,


JCO était une personne attachante, charismatique et profondément humaine !!!

Matthieu Lagrive partage toutes ces valeurs et a été très touché par le décès de JCO.

Lui rendre hommage était devenu une évidence.

On vous invite dès à présent à vous rendre sur notre communauté, pour découvrir le Trophée JCO et ses dynamiques.

Nous vous remercions par avance de l’écho et l’intérêt que vous accordez à cet hommage et nous restons à votre entière disposition.

Bonne journée

 L’équipe du Trophée JCO


https://www.facebook.com/pages/Trophee-JCO/134333450071080?ref=hl

Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge : Roma en auto, Sunderland en moto. Barreda abandonne, sa blessure à la main du Dakar le fait trop souffrir.

 Communiqué de presse

Abu Dhabi, UAE, 8 April, 2013: Spanish driver Nani Roma swept to the front of the pack in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge today while Dubai-based British rider Sam Sunderland overshadowed the world’s best on two wheels to take the lead in the bikes class.

Partnered by French co-driver Michel Perin in his Mini, Roma was fastest over the gruelling

250km ADNOC Special Stage 2 which sent the rally on a difficult passage through the giant dunes of the Rub Al Khali, and he finished it leading the cars class by 17 mins 10 secs from Brazillian Guilherme Spinelli.

Accompanied by Youssef Haddad in a Mitsubishi ASX, Spinelli was 19 mins 31 secs clear of Dutchman Bernhard Ten Brinke and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel in third place in their HRX Ford X.

With another Dutchman, Erik Van Loon, slipping one place overnight to fourth, defending champion and six-times Desert Challenge winner Jean Louis Schlesser had a much better day after his problems on the first leg, climbing to fifth, although he was more than 50 minutes off the lead.

While a procession of cars and bikes became stuck in soft sand as the route wound its way through the spectacular but unforgiving dunes, Saudi Arabia’s Yasir Saeidan took his Polaris into seventh position, while the UAE’s Yahya Al Helei shrugged off his first leg setback to move into the top ten, and lead the T2 production class.

Roma completed the second leg to say: “It was definitely not easy and much harder than yesterday. I got stuck once and lost maybe seven minutes. But it’s ok – I’m feeling good at the moment”

Spinelli said: “This stage was more difficult than yesterday. I was climbing one of the biggest dunes in second gear and at the top I tapped my brakes slightly and got stuck. It cost us maybe ten minutes. But this is a very good experience for me as I’ve never driven in the desert before.”

The cars category was guaranteed a new leader today when Argentina’s Lucio Alvarez, who had won the Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management Special Stage 1, withdrew overnight after his Toyota Hilux Overdrive X T1 was deemed unfit to continue. It had been damaged when it rolled 2km from finish of the first stage.

While many of the riders found the going particularly tough today, Sunderland produced a stunning performance, outpacing world champion Marc Coma throughout the stage and finishing with a lead of 2 mins 13 secs from the Spaniard, the defending champion in the Desert Challenge and six-times winner of the event.

Portugal’s Paulo Goncalves, Norway’s former world champion Pal Anders Ullevalseter, Polish rider Jakub Przygonski and Dutchman Sebastian Husseini, the leader in the quads category,  completed the top six who were separated by just over 20 minutes. Another UAE-based British rider, Dave McBride, held seventh place.

“It was hot, very hot, but a good day,” said Sunderland at the finish. “I had to do a bit of extra navigation at the end but the bike is going really well. It was just nice to get out there after missing out yesterday.”

The result underlined the star quality of a rider who made his mark in motocross before moving into cross country rallying in 2011. He won two stages on the Desert Challenge that year, and two more on the Australasian Safari before being knocked out of the event by a kangaroo.

He made his debut in the Dakar Rally last year, and was seventh fastest on first stage before being forced to retire with a mechanical problem. He was prevented from taking part in this year’s Dakar after being injured during testing for the event.
Leading positions after ADNOC Special Stage 2 - cars

1. Nani Roma / Michel Perin (ESP / FRA) MINI All 4 Racing X T1                        06:06.57

2. Guilherme Spinelli / Youssef Haddad (BRA / BRA) Mitsubishi ASX T1          06:24.07

3. Bernhard Ten Brinke / Matthieu Baumel (NLD / FRA) HRX Ford X T1             06:43.38

4. Erik Van Loon / Wouter Rosegaar (NLD / NLD) HRX Ford X T1                        06:43.46

5. Jean Louis Schlesser / Konstantin Zhilstov (FRA /RUS) Schlesser Orignal  06:57.50

6. Miroslav Zapletal / Maciej Marton (CZE / POL) Hummer H3 X T1                      07:07.27

7. Yasir Saeidan (SAU) / Sebastien Telauny (FRA) Polaris T3                                07:24.23

8. Leonid Ogorodnikov / Anton Nikolaev (RUS / RUS) Toyota Hilux T1                 07:36.38

9. Yahya Alhelei / Khalid Alkendi (ARE / ARE) Nissan Petrol T2                             07:39.08

10. Holowczyc Krystof / Schulz Andreas (POL / GER) MINI All 4 Racing X T1      07:59.23

Bikes

1. Sam Sunderland (UAE) Honda CRF 450 X                                  03:41:00

2. Marc Coma Camps  (ESP) KTM 450 Rally Replica                    03:43:13

3. Paulo Goncalves (PRT) Speedbrain 450 Rally                           03:43:54

4. Pal Anders Ullevalseter (NOR) KTM 450 Rally                            03:55:38

5. Jakub Przygonski (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica                          04:00:38

6. Sebastian Husseini (NED) Honda TRX 700 XX                           04:01:26

7. David MC Bride (GBR) KTM 500 EXC                                             04:02:56

8.  Tedeusz Blazusiak (POL) KTM 450 Rally Replica                       04:06:14

9.  Juan Salvatierra Carlos (BOL) HM Honda CRE F 500 X           04:10:22

10. Miran Stanovnik (SVN) KTM 450 Rally Replica                          04:12:51

RIP OSCAR BERGAMASCHI !

Oscar, vecchia volpe ! Cosi sei andato via, raggiungere Jaja (Yves Jamotte). Quante risatte abbiamo fatti tutti tre... Mi ricorderò sempre l'Africa del Sud, nella casa con i giornalisti Swizzeri, quando Jaja a raccontato la barzelletta del Dalaï Lama contro il Belga ! E tanto che non ci siamo visto perché avevi lasciato i MotoGP... pero il tuo carattere mancava. Le pagine del libro si girano troppo veloce... RIP amico e saluti Jaja e gli amici che mangiano con i angeli !

Oscar, vieux renard ! Ainsi tu es parti rejoindre ton ami Jaja (Yves Jamotte).
Combien de fous rires avons nous eu tous les trois... Je me rappellerai toujours le soir, dans la maison en Afrique du Sud, à Welcome, avec les journalistes suisses, quand Jaja a raconté la blague du Dalaï Lama qui faisait un concours de mimes avec un Belge !
Il y a longtemps que je n'avais pas eu de tes nouvelles, tu avais quitté le milieu des GP... et pourtant, ton caractère bougon manquait...
Les pages du livre se tournent trop vite. RIP l'ami et salue Jaja et les amis qui dînent là-haut avec les anges !

DESERT CHALLENGE ABU DHABI : Tempête de sable, les motos restent au bivouac, Alvarez remporte la première spéciale mais est contraint à l'abandon.

 Ci-dessous vous trouverez le communiqué de presse officiel, en anglais, mais il y manque un épisode : Après avoir remporté  le première spéciale, raccourcie de 299 à 183 km à cause d'une tempête de sable, Lucio Alvarez et Ronnie Graue ont fait une "casquette" — au vue des photos — à 2 km de l'arrivée et endommagé la structure du Toyota. Les commissaires techniques de la FIA leur interdisent de prendre le départ demain... Ils sont donc contraints à l'abandon !

La tempête de sable étant particulièrement virulente, clouant les hélicoptères au sol, et laissant la course sans sécurité, la spéciale des motos fut annulée.

Abu Dhabi, UAE, 7 April, 2013: Argentinean Lucio Alvarez set the early pace in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge today after a powerful sandstorm bringing strong winds and dramatically reducing visibility meant that only the cars were able to tackle a shortened first leg, while the 51 bike and quad riders were forced to sit out the action.

Driving a Toyota Hilux Overdrive X T1 in partnership with Bernardo Graue, Alvarezheld a lead of 3mins 19seconds at the end of Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management Special Stage 1 which had been reduced from 299km to 183km.

He was followed by Spanish driver Nani Roma in  a Mini, with Dutchman  Erik Van Loon a further 3mins 38 seconds further away in third position in a his HRX Ford X T1.

With Brazillian Guilherme Spinelli setting the fourth fastest time on the stage, UAE drivers

Mohammed Al Mansouri in a Nissan Pathfinder and Mansour Al Helei in a Nissan Patrol completed the top six.

It was not a good day, however, for defending champion and six-times winner Jean-Louis Schlesser who had problems with his buggy’s air compressor and finished the stage in 11th position.

While his son Mansour was well satisfied with his day’s work, the UAE’s Yahya Alhelei, was not so happy after finishing the stage in 15th place, although still well in the hunt for another Desert Challenge T2 production class title.

“I have a new co-driver and this is a new partnership, and I started driving very nervously,” said Al Helei “Visibility was bad. You couldn’t see the ground clearly and a lot of cars were getting stuck. We also got stuck once but we drove hard over the last part.”

For much of the day, the weather had threatened to force a complete cancellation of the first leg, as the UAE’s Western Region of Al Garbia,which is the setting for the spectacular cross country rally, felt the full force of the storms lashing the Emirates.

Conditions made it impossible all morning for the Abu Dhabi Aviation Search and Rescue helicopters to take off and provide permanent cover as part of a sophisticated safety operation for the protection of competitors, officials and the small army of volunteers who help to run the event.

And with gusting winds and sand clouds dramatically reducing visibility, making conditions particularly dangerous for the riders, the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE, the rally organisers, were forcedto cancel the stage for the bikes class. Just over an hour later, the 49 cars started the shortened Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management Stage.

“The safety of competitors, spectators, and organisers is always our top priority in the Desert Challenge, and the weather conditions forced our hand,” said ATCUAE President Dr. Mohammed Ben Sulayem, founder of the event.

“The aerial support that Abu Dhabi Aviation provides can be the difference between life and death if someone is injured in the desert and needs evacuation to our rally medical centre, or a hospital.

“There is always a possibility of competitors finding difficulty in an event like this, especially in bad weather, but the search and rescue operation allows us to provide a rapid response to urgent situations and keep casualties to a minimum.

“It wasn’t possible to get the helicopters into the air all morning, and at the same time, visibility was very bad, making it dangerous to run the stage, so we had no hesitation in cancelling the bikes class.” With forecasts for an overnight improvement in the weather, the 250km ADNOC Special Stage 2 is scheduled to start at 8am tomorrow.

The Desert Challenge, which is taking place under the patronage of H.H.Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Ruler's Representative in the Western Region, is the second round of the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies for cars, and the opening round of this year’s FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship. The event’s high-profile line-up of strategic partners and supporters includes the Diwan of the Ruler’s Representative for the Western Region, Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management, Nissan, ADNOC, Abu Dhabi Aviation and Qasr Al Sarab Resort by Anantara.

Leading positions after Abu Dhabi Motorsport Management Special Stage 1

1. Lucio Alvarez / Bernardo Graue (ARG / ARG) Toyota Hilux Overdrive X T1    01:52:03

2. Nani Roma / Michel Perin (ESP / FRA) MINI All 4 Racing X T1                        01:55:22

3. Erik Van Loon / Wouter Rosegaar (NLD / NLD) HRX Ford X T1                      01:59:00

4. Guilherme Spinelli / Youssef Haddad (BRA / BRA) Mitsubishi ASX T1                        02:07:24

5. Mohamed Al Mansoori / (UAE) Nissan Pathfinder T1                                          02:08:50

6. Mansour Al Helei / Ali Mirza (UAE / UAE) Nissan Patrol T2                              02:20:27

7. Bernhard Ten Brinke / Matthieu Baumel (NLD / FRA) HRX Ford X T1             02:20:55

8. Martin Kaczmarski / Bartlomiej Boba (POL / POL) Toyota Hilux T1                   02:25:22

9. Ahmed Fahim (UAE) Polaris 900 T3                                                                     02:26:51

10. Miroslav Zapletal / Maciej Marton (CZE / POL) Hummer H3 X T1                   02:27:41