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 | Silk Way Rally: Game of hide-and-seek in the dunes for Team Dessoude.
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For competitors, the 431 kilometers of stage were not a mere formality. Apart from the "classic" technical difficulties, navigation was the biggest problem, including for the crew of the Oryx Buggy, Christian Lavieille and Jean-Michel Polato. The first 240 km were on large steppes followed by dunes with several small ergs interspersed with vegetation to cross. The end of the stage, on sandy tracks, was quite tricky to find the waypoints.
"Good point of the day, the small problems of turbulence at high speed we had yesterday have been solved and the buggy has particularly well performed in this demanding field. Otherwise, we visited the countryside on the finish! The navigation was complex and we looked for the right track during a while. The sanction is hard, we lose almost 1:30 ... but that's racing! We still have two strong days to further develop the car."
Frédéric Chavigny and Jean Brucy went on the right pace. The Pathfinder’s crew increases its lead in T2, ranked ninth overall. Driver and co-driver are in a good mood.
""We went from the mud and rain to a very hot temperature. This day was quite tiring but interesting. Every day is a new terrain and we have to face different conditions of driving. Today in the sand and dust, it was particularly hot in the cockpit. Jean has done a good job and stayed on the right course until the end. I think tomorrow will be a "tough" day too, even more than today."
The "rookie" Zhou Ji-Hong is progressing day by day. Despite a difficult start on the stage where he was stuck three times, the last 150 kilometres have passed without any incident. Navigated by Jean-Pierre Garcin, communication is not always simple in the crew as far as the Chinese driver is not fluent in English.
In terms of navigation, everything is fine but when the pace increases, things get complicated. This Sino-French collaboration is set in a good mood and the atmosphere on board the N05 is excellent! Jean-Pierre finds his driver attentive and quiet. For his part, Ji-Hong is delighted with the car and... his co-driver.
2011/07/13 | 16:23 CET | ARTICLE: MR/HS/ARPIZOU
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