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 | OiLibya Rally of Tunisia: Eric Vigouroux comfort his third place on SS03.
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Fourth best time of the selective section on Tuesday, Eric Vigouroux and Alexandre Winocq´s Trophy Truck has been solidly installed in the third place of the general classification. A loop around the bivouac of Nekrif, this third stage has been a real day of rally raid. "There was a hard navigation in the first fifteen kilometers, you should stay focused, most of all because of the sand storm that came up right after our start", explains Vigouroux.
"Unfortunately, as we opened the road because of yesterday´s victory, we arrived first to all tricky passages, and we could not avoid hitting big stones. Tires worked well, no punctures, but the rims were broken so we had to stop two times in the first forty kilometers. We lost about ten minutes changing tires, and then a minute a minute and a half at the service in the middle of the stage to take two new tires. Then, we run regularly until the finish."
"Well, it is the price to pay for opening the road", estimated Eric. "But the important thing is that we are still in a very good position." In the general classification, Christian Lavieille is first, followed by Jean-Louis Schlesser´s buggy by 4:36 minutes and the Eric Vigouroux Trophy Truck 10:21 minutes behind. Regarding the Russian Novitskiy, he has left the top of the classification because of navigation mistakes made by his co-driver. Their car is now in the seventh position, after the lost of fifty minutes.
Wednesday´s stage will send the rally in North direction, to the famous bivouac of Ksar Ghilane. The selective section will once more be decisive, 280 km with fast and stony tracks, a small erg where the sand is announced to be very soft, and no less navigation to get to the bivouac. It is there that the gaps will change.
2010/05/04 | 16:44 CET | ARTICLE: MR/HS/BAUER
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