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 | Oilibya du Maroc: Eric Vigouroux and Alex Winocq win with Chevrolet Protruck.
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Eric Vigouroux and Alex Winocq were installed in the cockpit of the Trophy Truck with a slight pressure, but ready to go to the starting line of the last special of the Oilibya Rally of Morocco. The 42 minutes that separated them from their closest rival, Novitskiy´s Mini, provided them some comfort to manage the advantage without taking that much risks until the moment the checkered flag descended.
Vigouroux and Winocq got situated at a fast pace, but not speeding. All first half of the special happened in perfect conditions, great sensations and everything that came in mind was that the rest of it would be only as usual paperwork. Unfortunately, the only hazard that the team was afraid of arrived: A mechanical incident.
"Everything was going very well at the pace we were going, we really thought nothing could happen and then, we felt a loud vibration. We thought that the transmission was breaking. We decided to stop on the spot so Alex could check it quickly. Nothing seemed to be abnormal and we kept on going carefully" reported Eric Vigouroux.
"Some kilometers after that, the rattling sound came back. We decided to stop again and do a deeper scan of the problem to confirm that the drive shaft did not work well, certainly due to a balance problem. After stopping for 20 minutes, we jumped back on the track doing the best we could."
Fortunately this scary episode did not get any further and Vigouroux and Winocq crossed the finish line holding on to their first place in the overall standings. Since the moment the Trophy Truck crossed the finish, there was an explosion of joy inside the car. The EVR crew and fans came to greet the two adventurers on the podium and the emotion was in the air!
"I´m really touched by all the encouragement and the many friendly greetings and congratulations that we have been receiving as the week was progressing. I´m convinced that this is great to our discipline: to be able to come up with a small passionate team and take it to such a high level. The public wants more and so do we!"
"If today we completed this performance, is because of the men with whom I´ve shared my passion for the last 10 years, and the loyalty they have shown. For me, that makes me feel a great satisfaction that comes on top of the sport performance! In the technical plan, we have progressed and most important, we did not make mistakes during the race. I think that is the only key that can lead to succeed in rally raid."
"I did not plan to take part of the Dakar 2013, but people ask the question very often and everyone encourage me to participate. I´m convinced that it can be done, because our car will be back from Morocco in a good shape, and we have enough time to perform a complete revision of it. We just need to find the budget, but certainly that is the most difficult thing! But I keep a positive mood, I want to believe we can make it!"
"Once again, I want to show the appreciation I feel for my co-driver, Alex. He suffered a difficult health problem in 2011 for which he had to go through a complicated surgery. Months later we see him in the cockpit of the Trophy Truck to win the two races we have signed up for since the beginning of the year. Wow!"
Final results Cars Top 4 OiLibya Morocco Rally 2012
01) Vigouroux & Winocq (USA/FRA) I Chevrolet Protruck I 17:55:14
02) Novitskiy / Tyupenkin (RUS/RUS) I X-Raid Mini All4 I 18:12:57
03) Spinelli / Haddad (BRA) I Mitsubishi Racing Lancer I 18_18:37
04) Garafulic / Picard (CHL/F) I X-raid BMW X3CC I 18:47:12
2012/10/22 | 18:48 CET | ARTICLE: MR/HS/EVR
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