First stage of the Libya Rally cancelled

© Jorge Cunha

The first stage of the Libya Rally 2016 which was held today between Agadir and Tan-Tan, Morocco, was cancelled because of some faults that had a direct effect on the teams in the race. Some of the CPs were placed in inaccessible places which led the participants to fail these points of obligatory passage. Considering that it was an adverse situation for the competitors the organization of the race cancelled the stage.

 

Elisabete Jacinto considered this first stage rather confusing and supported the decision of the organizers: « Today we had a day full of adventures. The Waypoints were badly placed and at a certain time we had to leave the track to find them. Some of them we managed to find but there were others that we couldn’t locate. And this happened to everybody. The stage didn’t go well because at some point nothing was right, by this fact, it was a very difficult day » said the Portuguese.

The OLEOBAN® team was still subject of an unusual situation in this type of competition. One of the T4 category competitors, the Dutch Martin Van Den Brink of the Mamoet Rallysport team, collided with the truck of the Portuguese formation: « Today we lived an episode that saddens me greatly because I compete in these races for over 20 years and never happened to me anything similar. The pilot of the Renault 501 hit our truck three times and didn’t show any respect for us. Our intention is to compete with directness, cordiality and sense of sportsmanship and we regret when these things happen, » said Elisabete Jacinto

It will be held tomorrow the second stage of the Libya Rally 2016 which will link Tan-Tan to Icht in Morocco. The special of 571 timed kilometres will be characterized by the many crossings of oueds, including the dry river Draa, stony tracks and some sandy paths.

Anabela Martinho,

PUBLICITÉ