Tunisia: suspense in Ksar Ghilane

“This morning, we immediately went on the attack. We wanted to get back a little ahead of Schlesser,” explained Christian. “We overtook Schlesser around km 110, in the dunes and camel grass. Then we calmed down a little, because the wind was coming from behind and the temperatures were a little high. » In the end, the Proto Dessoude driver achieved the best time of the special, 28 seconds ahead of Novitskiy and 9:42?? on Schlesser. But this time is provisional, because on his GPS, the marshals noted an infraction for speeding, at the entrance to the assistance zone. The decision of the sports commissioners will be known late in the evening, however it risks having a direct influence on the final result.

“Everything is going well, the special was quite mixed, with good rolling sections, but also around ten very slow kilometers, in very small dunes covered in 2nd gear,” said Novitskiy who is now in 3rd place, following the technical problems experienced by Eric Vigouroux today.

“I know that you need varied terrain, but there, it wasn't pleasant for anyone,” analyzed Jean-Louis Schlesser. “In these very close quarters, we were shaken like plum trees, it was really shit. »

Fourth time of the day, Ronan Chabot finished ahead of two buggies from the MD Sport team, those of Jean-Luc Blanchemain and Pascal Thomasse. As for the third machine of the Norman team, piloted by Régis Delahaye, it did not reach the finish, victim of a broken universal joint.