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The third stage between Oued Mellah and Ras el Oued gave the competitors the chance to let rip over a varied 365 km special of sandy pistes, bumpy going and compressions. An African timed section which both motorcycle and car drivers seemed to unanimously appreciate. In the bike class the overall changes, with Cyril Despres taking the lead by just over 2 minutes on Marc Coma and a little more than 12 over David Casteu. The two factory riders have already pulled out a substantial gap over their rivals and appear ready to commence battle between themselves. In the quad class Lionel Laine is still
comfortably in control. In the cars Terranova once again wins the special and is now 1’40 ahead of Leonid Novitskiy overall, with Nicolas Misslin 3rd at just over 5 minutes. Meanwhile Jean-Louis Schlesser got stuck in a bog and was pulled out by a sporting Guerlain Chicherit – both men losing a good 15 minutes in the operation.
For many the race ‘proper’ got underway today over the varied terrain of the special to Ras el Oued. With typical African going and plenty of navigation Cyril Despres was delighted to post the fastest time and take the overall lead. Marc Coma finished 3 minutes behind and is now just over 2 minutes down overall with ‘Chaleco Lopez and David Casteu already more than 10 minutes further back. After just three stages the gap is already becoming significant between the two factory KTM riders and the rest of the pack, which includes Jordi Viladoms, Pal Anders Ullevalseter and Olivier Pain, fastest in the 450 class and who in the process takes the class lead off Luca Manca by a tiny margin.
The quads also appreciated the terrain with Lionel Laine once again showing World Champion Karim Dilou and the Italian Camelie Liparoit the way home.
Tomorrow the rally crosses the Libyan border after 280 kilometres of ‘Far West’ navigation through the canyons.
Quotes of the day…
Cyril DESPRES – KTM
It is exactly for that type of the special that I love rally-raid – lots of navigation with different pistes and compass headings, washouts, braking, acceleration. It is two years that I haven’t done an African special and it is good to be back. You needed to stay really concentrated and get on the gas.
Marc COMA – KTM
I didn’t want to take too many risks today. I am not worried because the rally is still long and there are a lot of kilometres and difficulties to come.
Pal Anders ULLEVALSETER - KTM
On these mountainous pistes, unlike the Spanish, Portuguese or others, I’m not so fast because I lack the experience. Despite that, it was good training because the Dakar is more and more like that. A part from that, I lost 4 or 5 minutes through navigation errors.
