Pharaons Rally : Leg 5 - SummaryLeading to the splendid oasis of Siwa, where the dunes are dying in a lake in the shade of majestic rocks eroded by the years, the wind and the sand, the 5th stage of the Total Pharaons International Rally has seen a new significant change
at the head of the race.
Winner of the cars stage, Russian Shmakov (Buggy Zil) grabbed the leader position of the general ranking, on two wheels, the victory came back to David Casteu (KTM), who in spite of fighting for a final podium position, took the opportunity to exercise his navigation skills in this exceptional environment.
The legend tells that Alexandre The Great would have come here, to Siwa, consult the oracle of Amon to acquire the certainty of his divine filiation. One also whispers that he would have asked to be buried in this magnificent oasis, without any doubt the most authentic and most glowing of the Libyan plateau. But one does not tell such stories to Sergey Shmakov.
The driver and entrepreneur based in Moscow does only have one certitude, the one of the right foot shoved to the maximum on the accelerator pedal of its Buggy Zil. Deprived from the first position two days ago after having suffered some gear-box problems, the Russian driver swore that he would counterattack during the two stages toward and from Siwa.
Far from imagining the troubles that was facing Jose-Luis Monterde (BMW X5) from the first kilometres of the special, Shmakov managed a splendid double good operation, first by taking back the first spot with about 50 minutes ahead of the other BMW X5 from the Brazilian Nobre. As for Jose Luis Monterde (BMW X5), he had only his tears to implore the divinities of the desert.
Taking off in second position, the Spaniard was victim of a double punctured before to realise that his gear-box was showing some signs of weakness. Against his will, he had to stop at the assistance point, right after CP1, in order to install a new one, who turned out to be also defective. It goes without saying that the complete operation cost more than two hours and Monterde as well as his co-driver Jean-Marie Lurquin saw the foreseeable victory fly away…
The only positive point for the Spanish-Belgium team is that, despite the 3h43 conceded during this stage, they are still on the provisory podium. Second today, the Hungarian Sandor Kis (Nissan Pickup) benefited from the occasion to show the full potential of his new car.
Other remarkable performance, the 5th spot of Laurent Rosso (Nissan Pathfinder), first in the T2 category stage, behind the Israeli Heymann Raz and Segal (Mitsubishi Pajero), but also just ahead of the category's leader Christian Lavieille (Nissan Pathfinder), once again suffering engine misfiring due to a faulty ignition sensor. Seventh of the stage, the Iveco truck from Giacomo Vismara is still racing comfortably ahead in the category, in which some other competitors tried to realise some stunts at the end of the stage.
That is how the Unimog from Bellina, like the Iveco from Rickler rolled almost at the same position at the end of the trail. Fortunately, no injury has been recorded for none of the two teams, who have joined the bivouac of Siwa unhurt.
Bad news in bikes, for which about ten withdrawals have occurred this morning due to the bad fuel quality delivered at the station in Farafra two days back.
Leading the bikes division today, the show has been guaranteed by David Casteu (KTM). The French rider, leader of the Rally World Cup , but left behind the elite group from the first stage, where he suffered some carburetion problems, took the advantage of a navigation mistake from the head-group driven by Marc Coma (KTM) and Jordi Viladoms (KTM) to get away.
With still over thirty minutes behind the 5th place, and less than two days to go before the end of the rally, The chances for Casteu to bridge the gap with the top 3 riders before Monday, in front of the Pyramids are becoming very lean.
To the contrary excellent operation for Francisco Lopez (Honda 450), who clocked the second time of the day and achieved in the meantime his best result on the African soil. It is useless to mention that the Chilean is mastering the small cubic-capacity engines category. On the overall standing after leg 5, despite of the four minutes conceded today, Marc Coma (KTM) keeps the leader spot, ahead of his team mate Jordi Viladoms (KTM) and Carlo De Gavardo (KTM).
Press release JVD International
