In the SSV category the Spanish Fidel –Casado claims the marathon stageStage 2 21 October “Italfer” – 304,12 km SS: 267,97 km – marathon stage
After a first stage on stony and mountains terrain, today the second stage of the Merzouga Rally was very technical and varied, featuring small dunes, dunes, hors-piste, fesh fesh and river crossing, before pointing the cap to the Merzouga dunes, where the Pro tackled the beautiful big dunes of the Erg Chebbi. In total the competitors completed 304,12 km, just 39,15 km of liaison and 267,97 km of special stage. This is a marathon stage so the support of the assistance is not allowed till the end of the third stage.
Henk Knuiman, who finished the SS1 on top of the time sheets, got a penalty for missing the Prologue, so the winner of the first stage was Pall Ullevalseter in front of Czech Ondrej Klimciw, Arnold Brucy, Johnny Aubert and Francesco Tarricone in the Pro category. Spanish Laia Sanz finished in 6th place. While the top 5 of the Expert category were: Musazzi, Dalla Valle, Tavernari, Barwick e Polli.
Today it was Johnny Aubert to claim the second stage. The Frenchman was very carefull in the navigation, finding the correct way since the beginning. He was able to catch Pal Ullevalster and they rode together for a while. Klimciw made another strong performance while Phillippaerts kept on improving in the navigation. The Spanish champion Laia Sanz struggled a bit with the navigation, closing in the provisionl 10th place. In the SSV category the fastest today was the Spanish crew Fidel –Casado in front of Henrichy – Bersey and Munk – Delaunay.
Bike Provisonal Top 10: 1° Johnny Aubert 2° Metelli 3° Klimciw 4° Ullevalseter 5° Philippaerts 6° Arana 7° Arredondo 8° A.Brucy 9° Knuiman 10° Sanz
SSV provisional Top 10 1° 207 Fidel –Casado 2° 202 Henrichy – Bersey 3° 216 Munk – Delaunay 4° 229 Landanger – Deblaize 5° 227 Navarro – Rivera 6° 209 Espuche – Martin 7° 201 Abel – Montagne 8° 212 Culus – Bonneaudeau 9° 230 Garrouste 10° 219 Duclos – Lichtleuchter These are the provisional top10 results – the official classification will be available on www.merzougarally.com once the penalties will be given.
Johnny Aubert: “It’s nice to be back on the rallies, it’s my dream to be a rally rider. it’s the first time since Dakar 2012 and I’m really enjoying the Merzouga rally. Busy with the world enduro championship, I couldn’t test the bike or train navigation to arrive more prepared. anyday I will do my best”. .
Henk Knuiman: “I had to miss the prologue as I was busy with my two sons in Holland who were racing. They are leading (first and second) in the national championship so I couldn’t miss this appointment. Anyway, with the experience of last year, yesterday I rode carefully, paying a lot of attention to the navigation and I finished first. I was surprised!!. Today I tried to go faster and I made some navigation mistakes. Anyway, rallies are like this.”
Pal Ullevalseter: “It’s my first time that I race the Merzouga Rally and it’s tougher then I expected. So far it’s the most demanding that I have ever done in terms of navigation. The stages are long but the scenery pays all the efforts that we do. It’s amazing”.
Abel- Montagne: “Today we struggled a bit as the stage was quiet complicated in terms of riding but the landscape was simply beautiful and the choice of the places and the road book were really great.
Stage 2 – description A 35 km liaison brought the competitors in the area of the “traditional wells”, start of the second special stage. The first loop headed east-west, the second one south-east pointing the cap to the Merzouga dunes, where the competitors of the Pro category tackled the beautiful big dunes of the Erg Chebbi. The support of the assistance is not allowed till the end of the third stage. At the bivouac at night Rally Raid Party for all the desert enthusiasts.