A twist on the Africa Eco Race

The 7th stage of the Africa Eco Race was marked by the impressive accident between the two Optimus MD buggies of Dominique Laure and Sergey Kuprianov, eliminating the leader of the event. David Gérard won in Chamli, while Jean-Pierre Strugo took the overall lead.

Published on 09/01/2019 à 07:54

⁰ View comments)

Disaster was narrowly avoided on the seventh stage of the Africa Eco Race 2019, a loop designed around Chamli in Mauritania. So in a position to win this special and thus consolidate its leadership position overall, Dominique Laure (Optimus MD) was involved in a spectacular high-speed accident with Sergey Kuprianov (Optimus MD), remaining in his wake throughout the end of the stage.

After a series of several rollovers, both buggies appeared destroyed, but fortunately, both crews emerged unscathed from the incident which could have been much more dramatic. On a sporting level, Dominique Laure was forced to retire, having largely dominated the first week of racing in Morocco.

David Gérard (Optimus MD) emerged victorious from yesterday's stage, but it was Jean-Pierre Strugo (Optimus MD), third in the stage at 14′, who takes the overall lead with 1h13′ ahead of Patrick Martin (Tarek) and 1h24′ over David Gérard. Yves Fromont (Tarek) and Jean-Noël Julien (Optimus MD) complete the top 5 at just over an hour and a half.

This Wednesday, the eighth stage, mainly composed of sandy tracks and dunes, will take the peloton towards Amodjar in Mauritania, after 445,12 km of special.