Elisabete Jacinto and the OLEOBAN® team ended this morning their participation in the Libya Rally 2016. After the yesterday’s incident, where the MAN TGS turned in the dunes of the Erg Chegaga, the team wasn’t sure that the engine state could guarantee an effective participation. For this reason the Portuguese team has chosen to withdraw from the competition.
Yesterday the Portuguese remained more than 10 hours in the desert trying to solve the mechanical problem that resulted from the incident but only after they have received help from their assistance was when they managed to get the truck to walk and were able to reach the camp by 21PM of yesterday.
The MAN TGS from the OLEOBAN team suffered a mechanical difficulty resulting from the fall in the dunes of Erg ChegagaFor Elisabete Jacinto, this withdrawal was carefully measured together with the whole team and it was considered as the most prudent decision to make: « yesterday I took the truck to the limit of its abilities to perform side inclinations. The dune turned out to be steeper than it looked in the distance and he had no power 
to rise. He lost speed and fell. This was only the beginning of many problems. The first was to put the truck on its four wheels; the second was to put it walking because there was a long mechanical work to do. We were lucky because the team 501 stopped and stood the truck in its wheels. Then we had to ask for help from our assistance. They took us some material that we were missing and at the end of the day, we went out of the dunes. We decided to leave the race to ensure that we can get home because there are mechanical aspects that aren’t at 100% » said the Portuguese racing driver.
The OLEOBAN® team now returns to Portugal where they will start the work to recover the truck. The next race of the calendar of the Portuguese formation is the Rally of Morocco which takes place in October in Moroccan soil.
Anabela Martinho,