The Portuguese pilot Elisabete Jacinto completed today in a successful way the first special of the Africa Race held in Mauritania. The OLEOBAN® team finished the sixth stage of this great African marathon in fourth among trucks, having spent 1h33m57s to run the 174 timed kilometers between Boulanouar and Chami, in Mauritania. Completed in rough but fast soils, the stage didnt present major difficulties for the Portuguese that keep at the overall classification the third place among trucks and the 13th position of the joint classification auto / truck.
The trio formed by Elisabete Jacinto, José Marques and Marco Cochinho entered thus in a positive way in the harsh and complex stages of Mauritania. Portuguese assume, therefore, a good position to be able to attack the first dunes of Mauritania. Elisabete Jacinto has an advantage of 1h20m to the Hungarian Miklos Kovacs, the fourth place among trucks.
For the Portuguese pilot this special was a great way to get into Mauritania, « todays journey was fast and had no major difficulties. We always have some reservations before entering in Mauritania, however, today we ran fast and we didnt have any problems. The tracks were good and gave us the chance to speed up, despite the limitation that we have to 150 Km / h. We tried to walk as fast as our opponents, but in fact, the progress level of these teams is not easy to achieve. We are doing our best and we want to continue with the good results » said Elisabete Jacinto.
Today, despite the fast tracks that were more favorable for automobiles, the Russian from the Kamaz team got, once again, outstanding results. Sergey Kuprianov (403) spent just 6m57s than the first T1 to fulfill the route and Anton Shibalov, which remains second in the auto truck joint classification, spent over 7m37.
Tomorrow’s stage will fulfill 414 timed kilometers between Chami and Azougi. One of the advantages of the stages of Mauritania is that from one year to the other sand changes location transforming the route and thus even the more accustomed riders will be surprised with new tracks dominated by sandy soils and dunes that are as beautiful as complex.
Anabela Martinho,