Jeremy Knuiman has won the second stage of the Fenix Rally, the first big dune day of the event. On the 336-kilometre loop around Douz, the Dutchman was 2 minutes and 8 seconds faster than Justin Gerlach. The German remains the overall leader, however, with a 3 minute and 54 second advantage. In the cars, Vincent Thijs and Arjan van Tiel won for the second day in a row. They were 43 seconds faster than their compatriots Vincent Vroninks and Dave Berghmans and now lead by more than twenty minutes. In the SSVs, Pierre Lafay won once again. His closest challenger from the first stage, Hugues Lacam, did not reach the finish.
It was a gruelling day. Of the 45 SSV crews that started, 13 were classified as retired, including four Dutch ones. In the cars, four of the thirteen starters failed to finish; in the Limited class only the leader made it in, and among the trucks just one of the three. Retired competitors are entered in the results with the maximum time of 10:20:00. Already in the morning, the organisers called on all competitors to drive with their lights on during the special stages: in the dust they were barely visible to others. According to the race management, the time spent in the first neutralisation has been deducted from the stage times. These are provisional and unofficial results; the stewards may still make changes.
Bikes: Knuiman strong on the fast final section
The dunes were won and lost in several places. Between kilometre 60 and 136, the toughest dune section, Daan Veenendaal and Frenchman Gaspard Delsart were the fastest riders. On the quicker tracks after the second service stop, however, Knuiman and Gerlach took more than twenty minutes out of them. Knuiman finished in 06:15:43. Veenendaal came third, 24 minutes and 39 seconds behind, including a two-minute penalty for a missed waypoint. Delsart received the same penalty and finished fourth.
In the standings, Knuiman is now second, 3 minutes and 54 seconds behind Gerlach. Veenendaal is third at 30 minutes and 14 seconds and holds more than nineteen minutes over Delsart. Richard Wijntjes was eleventh on the stage and is seventh overall. Pascal de Baar finished ninth, partly due to an eight-minute speeding penalty, and sits ninth as well. The big loser of the day was German rider Florian Willer. He was classified with the maximum time, received a 27 minute and 40 second penalty for speeding and six missed waypoints, and dropped from fifth to fifteenth. Austrian Georg Reinprecht was also given the maximum time. Dries de Baar is once again absent from the results after the second stage.
In the quads, Adam Krysiak won with almost half an hour over Karol Slugocki. The Pole was the fastest both in the dunes and on the fast final section and now leads by 35 minutes and 51 seconds.
SSV: Lacam out, Lafay dominant
Lafay and Loïc Minaudier (Can-Am Maverick R) won the stage by 11 minutes and 1 second over Nicolas Martinez and Lili Delfino (Overdrive OT3). Both crews were the fastest through the dunes between kilometre 60 and 136. Martinez and Delfino were actually slightly quicker through that section, but after the second service stop Lafay was the fastest SSV on the fast final part. Xavier and Diego Lormand came third, having stood in 22nd place after their speeding penalty on the first day. David and Laura Bord finished fourth. Lacam and Delphine Delfino (MMP T3), second after the first day, did not reach the finish. The cause has not yet been made public.
In the standings, Lafay now holds 20 minutes and 3 seconds over Martinez. The Bords are third at 38 minutes and 57 seconds, followed by Italians Riccardo Benettolo and Martina Musiari (Taurus T3 Max) and Raoul Fenestraz and Lili-May Mansuy.
Cars: Thijs and Van Tiel win despite a hard day
As winners of the first stage, Thijs and Van Tiel had to open the course, with no tracks from predecessors to follow. “We lost some time there,” said Van Tiel. In the second section they got stuck on a clump of camel grass, damaging the right front of the car. They were able to repair everything on the spot, but according to Van Tiel that cost “a lot of time.” He spoke of “a very hard day” in the cars. Even so, they won the stage in 05:57:26. Vroninks and Berghmans (Red-Lined VK56) finished just 43 seconds behind them and climb to second in the standings, at 20 minutes and 33 seconds.
The most remarkable story of the day was that of Magdalena Zajac and Blazej Czekan (Toyota Hilux). Between kilometre 60 and 136 they were by far the fastest car, more than twenty minutes quicker than Thijs. On the fast final part, however, they lost almost an hour and finished fourth at 30 minutes and 19 seconds. Why they lost that time is unknown. In the standings they drop to fourth place.
Koen Wauters and Tom De Leeuw came third at 25 minutes and 53 seconds and sit third in the standings as well. Wauters called the first section not too difficult, but a test of patience, with the many small dunes and the camel grass. The second section led through the real, high dunes. There they got stuck once, which Wauters blamed on himself. Because of neck problems after earlier impacts in the dunes, he drives cautiously to spare the nose of the car and was, by his own account, “a little too slow.” Two punctures followed after that.
Teammate Pascal Feryn had a mechanical problem on the final section. Wauters and De Leeuw towed him about thirty kilometres to the service zone, after which they completed the final part. For Wauters that was the finest section of the day: “fast, technical, everything I want.” Feryn and Kurt Keysers were classified with the maximum time and drop to eighth place. “We’ll probably lose a few places, but there are still four or five days to go,” said Wauters.
Frenchmen Antoine Deleporte and Arnaud Lamonnier (LCR 30 YCM) finished fifth and sit fifth overall as well. Besides Feryn, Germans Henry Ulke and Stefan Dorn, Tunisians Med Amine Trabelsi and Nader Kchaou, and Britons Thomas Jolliffe and Mark Foster also retired. For the latter, motion sickness played the leading role: despite medication and several stops, Jolliffe could not keep going in the dunes. The team stopped, drove out of the desert with a local tour group, and made their own way back to camp. Today Foster takes over the wheel, with Tom Sharp as navigator. Konrad Theobald and Ramona Theobald (Mercedes G 55) did not start.
In the Limited class, Tunisians Karim Benhassan Krayem and Nouichi Mohamed Elmecano (Toyota LC79) were the only ones to reach the finish. Austrians Ewald Holler and Markus Bodzenta and three other crews were classified as retired. Krayem now leads by almost four hours.
Trucks
Among the trucks, too, only one crew remained. Paolo Calabria, Loris Calubini and Carlos Alberto Viña (MAN TGA) were the only finishers, despite a two-minute penalty for a missed waypoint. The German crew of Stella Koerber and the MAN KAT 1 of Michael Wolff were classified as retired. Calabria leads with 02:21:05.
The Dutch SSVs
For the Dutch SSV drivers it was a tough day. Rob van Horssen and Carlo Spreeuwenberg (Roca Racing Team) were the best Dutch pairing in tenth and sit tenth in the standings as well, 57 minutes and 14 seconds behind Lafay. Henri van Steenbergen and Daan van Ooijen (GPR Oryx) came sixteenth and are seventeenth in the standings.
Harrie van Empel and Stefan van Ras, and Max and Sem van Empel of De Run Trading, finished 25th and 26th; in the standings they sit 23rd and 21st. Dick van Culenborg and Marius Bos came 27th. Their deficit was shaped mainly by a 01:08:20 penalty for speeding and six missed waypoints. “Captain Slow” and Jan-Willem van Mourik came 31st, partly due to a nineteen-minute penalty for three missed waypoints.
Four Dutch crews failed to finish: André Thewessen and Jeffrey Spoor, Coen Nooijen and Tijs Dijk, Daniel Kersbergen and Michiel Goegebeur, and Arjan Donders and Edwin Vloemans. The reasons are not yet known. Because of the maximum time, Kersbergen drops to 34th and Donders to 35th in the standings. Thewessen and Spoor, who had already lost a lot of time on the first day, sit 44th.
Loasis L’Original
The historic vehicles of Loasis L’Original drove a different route, without the big dunes. In the Open class, Michel Visy and Paul Durame won the stage and took over the lead. They now hold 11 minutes and 56 seconds over Rémy Chapot and Adrien Menceron; Michel Salvatore dropped to third. Alain Coquelle and Louis Boilly Coquelle (Bowler) again won the 2005 class and lead by more than an hour and a half. In the 95 class the day victory went to Patrick Gager and Xavier du Moulin, but François Jacquot and Lionel Jadot (Citroën) took over the lead in the standings. In the 85 class, leaders Eric and Christine Vallée retired, after which Philippe Dupuis and Clémence Cracosky took the lead.
Stage 3
Today’s programme once again features a loop around Douz, and it will be the longest day of the rally. According to the roadbook it covers 564 kilometres, of which 405 kilometres are against the clock, with a liaison section of more than 146 kilometres back to Douz afterwards. In the provisional programme this day was still listed at 524 kilometres. Unlike yesterday, the Fenix Rally and Loasis follow the same route today.
The stage combines fast tracks with rough, broken trails, sand and a great deal of compass navigation. The start is technical, and between kilometre 45 and 126 there are many dangerous crossings and rough passages, including a large concrete jump at kilometre 47. After that comes a longer stretch of open desert with sand and parallel tracks. According to the organisers, the most critical part lies in the second half, with a series of railway crossings between kilometre 327 and 332.
