Tunisia: Schlesser in verve

265 km long, this third special did not look particularly difficult. In fact, a strong sandstorm rose at the same time as the sun, making navigation quite difficult, while the terrain was at times quite tricky, with large stones at the exit of turns.

The big loser of the day is the Russian Leonid Novitskiy. His teammate, the German Andy Schulz, is however one of the most experienced in the profession. “I can't explain anything,” said Andy upon arrival, completely dejected. “From the start, it was difficult, and I completely lost my sense of direction, I no longer knew where my right and my left were, North and South. In addition, I announce the notes in Russian, and when we were lost, I had difficulty explaining to him how to turn around. It's a day that I would like to quickly forget, one of the worst of my life. » Finally, following one or the other car, Novitskiy finished the special 55 minutes behind the first, falling from first to seventh place!

Conversely, it was Jean-Louis Schlesser in great form who was first to finish. “The first 100 kilometers were difficult, but the end was nice, on a big, fast track, 1000 Lakes style, with bumps. My teammate, Constantin, was impressed by our speed. In short, I had fun.” In the general classification, Schlesser is now in second place, at 4?36?? of the new leader, Christian Lavieille.

The Dessoude team driver was moderately satisfied with his day: “we started at a good pace, unfortunately a rim broke on a stone, and that disrupted us a little. The main thing is that the car runs like clockwork and we attack the second part of the rally in a good position,” said Lavieille.

As for Eric Vigouroux, two stops to change deflated tires following impacts against rocks cost him around ten minutes. But the Trophy Truck Chevrolet remains well established in third place, ahead of the other Schlesser buggy of François Lethier. Ronan Chabot, for his first race at the wheel of the SMG buggy, controls fifth place.

Finally, let’s tip our hat to Elisabete Jacinto. At the wheel of her Man truck, she achieved a superb tenth scratch time, ahead of more than twenty other cars. It must be said that the friendly Portuguese car is co-driven by Charly Gotlib from Antwerp, one of the best navigators in the truck category?