A missed opportunity for Lavieille at Silk Way

Leader for two stages, Christian Lavieille had a lead of around twelve minutes at the start of the last day of racing. Due to bad weather conditions, this final stage, between Elista and Maykop, was shortened to 348 km. First twist, Lavieille?s direct opponent, Jêrome Pélichet, tore off his rear bridge at km 160. But shortly after, it was the leader who in turn had to stop.

« The air conditioning compressor broke and a pulley no longer worked, the belt failed four times. We only had three in the car… so we decided to take it easy without a belt,” explained Christian Lavieille after the arrival. “ After CP2, the battery was no longer recharged, definitive immobilization was very close? when we were joined by our teammates Chavigny and Magnaldi”

Ignoring their own results, they will then follow it to the end. Thierry will exchange his battery with that of Christian to allow him to continue. The three cars will thus manage to cross the finish line of the last special. A great team spirit, usual for the crews of the Dessoude team.

Finally, Christian Lavieille and his co-driver Pascal Larroque will be classified in fifth place in a rally very trying, which saw a lot of favorites disappear. As for their Dessoude All that remains is to work on reliability, so that the results are there.