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 | Pharaons Rally: Egypt Rally has outlined the route Details for 2010 Edition.
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Well outlined the 2010 Pharaons Rally, which counts over 2600 kilometres split up in six stages. The Start is as usual from the Giza Pyramids, but this year the arrival is on the seaside by El Alamein. Many are the novelties for this thirteenth edition of the Egyptian race, final challenge of Car and Bike World Cups.
The Pharaons Rally has outlined the route details of its 2010 edition, which is soundly renewed compared to the past. This year the JVD International race is the final appointment for the Cross Country Bike World Championship as well as for the FIA World Cup for cars. Thus JVD has made another effort to renew and improve quite a bit a race which is already generally known as the best of the world calendars. Not to mention that Egyptian deserts and the perfect schedule within calendar make Pharaons the ideal test bed in view of the great rallies of late 2010 and early 2011.
We start from the stages of this thirteen edition of the Rally organized by JVD International, six instead of the usual seven, in order to allow the technical and administrative scrutineerings over two days. What does not change is the whole length around 2600 kilometres with minimum transfers as it is tradition of this Egyptian race.
The JVD scouts team is just back from Egypt, where they have put into practice their commitment of a spectacular route, varied, never boring and with all the difficulties and the outstanding sceneries that only the Libyan - Egyptian desert can offer. Their promise has been fulfilled since the first stage will not end in Bahariya as in the past, but goes through a route slightly more North and gets to El Rammak dunes. Definitely pointed toward South is the second day, with 352 kilometres over a varied grounds which certainly don’t leave time to get bored, then end in Bir Karaween, East of Farafra oasis.
The third stage is split in two Selective Sections, the first takes at the most Southern point of 2010 Pharaons, up to the old town of El Quasr in the Mut Oasis. The second one points again toward North up to the bivouac of Abu Mingar, site of the great desert "Grand Prix" of last year.
The Pharaons fourth day is going to be maybe the most beautiful for competitors, but also assistants are rewarded for their very long day crossing the White Desert through the old asphalt which leads to the small Ain Dall Oasis. Racers have instead 434 kilometres of Selective Section, a lot of sand, cliffs to climb and plenty of dunes at the end that takes this difficult but spectacular day to the now traditional Sitra bivouac, on the shore of the same name lake born out of a missed oil prospection.
And we couldn’t miss the way back to Siwa, with this fifth stage of 419 kilometres, another day announcing itself overwhelmed with dunes, taking us to the outstanding Ammon Oasis, which some long run followers of the Pharaons might have missed for a while.
Novelties are not over yet; the sixth and last day will not lead us back to Cairo, but points toward the North coast of Egypt up to El Alamein, site with deep historical meanings. The crossing of the Quattara Depression, hundred metres below the sea level, is the last barrier before seeing the longed arrival of 2010 Pharaons on the crystal sea of El Alamein.
Altogether many novelties for this thirteenth edition of the Pharaons Rally, but the new track means also much more navigation. This year, after eight year of co-operation with Alain Lopes, the road book issue has in fact been entrusted to the expert Stephane Le Bail, who has definitely favoured navigation to CAP (compass direction), thus reducing WPT (waypoints, GPS points) to minimum. A further element which makes our Egyptian Rally quite unique, as "Pharaons is different".
The 2010 Stages of Pharaons Rally
October 4th: Cairo - El Rammak (56 + 366 SS + 7,5) tot 429,5
October 5th: El Rammak - Bir Karaween (1 + 352 SS + 1) tot 354
October 6th: Bir Karaween - Abu Mingar (1 + 169 SS + 31 + 202 SS) tot 403
October 7th: Abu Mingar - Sitra (434 SS + 1,5) tot 435,5
October 8th: Sitra - Sitra (1,5 + 412 SS + 5,5) tot 419
October 9th: Siwa - El Alamein (160 + 240 SS + 106) tot 506
2010/06/21 | 12:05 CET | ARTICLE: MR/HS/BAUER
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