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Orpi Maroc 2006 Special-Newssection
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This is the single-news section of the
marathonrally.com rally-live special of the Orpi Maroc rally 2006.
To see all news please use the link under the article or navigate
with the left main-navigation.
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Orpi Maroc: Nissan one-two-three in Production Cars.
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The final stage around Ouarzazate confirmed the classification in the Production category, and therefore Nissan took a magnificent one-two-three in the 7th Orpi Morocco rally, led home by Christian Lavieille. Team Nissan Aventure has now taken the lead in the World Cup for Cross Country Rallies. But the whole rally raid world is in mourning this evening, after the death this morning, during the final stage, of Henri Magne, Nani Roma´s navigator in the Mitsubishi. Five times the winner of the World Cup for co-drivers, this ever-smiling gentleman was Kenjiro Shinozuka´s co-driver for nearly twelve years. He is already greatly missed.
The final straight for the Orpi Morocco rally posed no problems for Team Nissan Aventure. This last timed section, mainly in mountainous regions, was once again very technical as far as the driving was concerned. For Christian Lavieille and Arnaud Debron, this was practically a formality, which allowed them to win the T2 category and claim the lead in the World Cup.
However, further to a tragic accident, a real black cloud has settled over the rally. On the final podium, joy soon turned to immense sadness as the competitors learned the bad news. Very emotional, Christian Lavieille and Arnaud Debron did not have much to say.
"We drove without pushing, except perhaps for the last thirty kilometres, as we saw Monterde stopped at the side of the road, and we were in a position to take a place from him in the overall classification. After CP 1 and before the service area, we saw Roma´s accident, and even if we didn´t know what had happened, I found it rather hard to concentrate. But towards the end of the stage, as I did not see Masuoka catch up with us, I thought it was serious. There is not much to say in such circumstances."
"In the World Cup", added Lavieille, "we have scored three wins from three events, even if we lost the Tunisian win afterwards. Here, although there was less competition than in Tunisia or Portugal, we managed our lead and looked after the car. Anyway, we are often our own main rival. For three races now, we have had no reliability problems. This proves that the cars are competitive and well prepared. I would like to thank the whole team as well as André Dessoude for all their hard work, which has allowed us to take the lead. Our next event will be the Pharaohs rally, in Egypt, in late September. It will be the perfect opportunity for us to score more points and take a good option on the world title."
Arnaud Debron was not on top form this morning, suffering from stomach problems. This last stage must have seemed very long to him. Arnaud was very much affected by the learning of the death of Henri Magne, as was André Dessoude.
André Dessoude, Team Manager, was of course satisfied with this magnificent one-two-three, the first in the history of Team Dessoude: "I am fully satisfied with this result. Christian and Arnaud managed the situation perfectly. Christian was perfectly able to drive faster, but he opted for safety and to make sure of the result. A 9th place overall, just ahead of Thomas Loussier, is perfect. Moreover, which was remarkably intelligent on his behalf, he never put any pressure on the team´s other two cars. Quite to the contrary, he was able to encourage them to allow us to get this one-two-three. His tactical race was brilliant. Morocco has a reputation for being very rough, and to put three cars in the top three places is particularly satisfactory. We will be back in Egypt for the next round of the World Cup."
Therefore, the two other Nissan Dessoude vehicles claimed second and third places. Thomas Loussier and Fred Vivier finished 10th overall. A superb performance for his first participation in rally raid, and a happy driver. Completing the podium, Stéphane Wintenberger and Mathieu Baumel finished in 12th place overall. This was also Stéphane´s first experience on a cross-country event, and he thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Perhaps we´ll see these two "rookies" back on other African routes!
In the meantime, Nissan put in a fine performance on this event, confirming that the Nissan Pathfinder is definitely the car to beat in the Production category.
2006/06/06 I 12:15 CET I Article: marathonrally.com/Dessoude
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