Africa Eco Race 2017: Day of Rest

8 January 2017

Saturday for the racers participating in the Africa Eco Race 2017 was a day of rest, and they were able to relax a bit in Dakhla, on the coast of the ocean.

However, even on this day the racers, especially the mechanics had a lot of work. "The day of rest is, shall we say, a conventional name, and the crews, of course, do not sit idle. So, it was a full day of locksmith's work," said co-driver of the gas KAMAZ Alexander Kupriyanov.

"The planned work with the trucks has been done. Basically, it included replacement of springs, as they were severely loaded during the first half of the race. In addition, we conducted a planned inspection of the trucks and checked what was out of order," said pilot Andrey Karginov.

Today, on Sunday, 8 January, the racers will continue their journey, completing the Moroccan stage of the competition. According to Andrey Karginov, it would shape quite well for his crew. "In general, we like everything, a complicated route, "killer" tracks are just for us. We are satisfied with everything yet, thank the organizers for the first half of the race," said the pilot.

Morocco's roads rich in sharp stones brought the racers a lot of problems. In its turn, Mauritania is famous for its sticky sand. "In fact, Mauritania becomes a turning point for many crews. Somebody will lose the leading position, and somebody will, on the contrary, shoot ahead all of a sudden. Mauritanian special stages are full of surprises, so it is very important to have good concentration. Sands are very viscous, so you need not to be mistaken with the trajectory. In addition, there is a very interesting navigation: courses are changed, you need to find all the control points. In general, there is something to fight for," Alexander Kupriyanov shared his plans for the next section of the race.

The competitors will have to pass seven stages of the race and cover more than two thousand kilometers through the territory of Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal. It should be recalled, the Africa Eco Race will be finished at Lac Rose in Dakar, on January 14.

The sixth stage of the Africa Eco Race 2017 Dakhla - Tiwilit is to start today. Its length is more than 744 km, the special stage is 172.5 km. It will be 5:00 am when the entire caravan of the AFRICA ECO RACE will start on a long morning connection to the border between Morocco and Mauritania. After passing the No Man's Land between the border posts that many will find changed, the vehicles will join the start of the stage not far from the Mauritanian village of Boulanouar. The short special stage of the day is now well known to the regulars of the event. The course will be rather fast on a sandy ground, but sometimes complicated in terms of cape navigation and off road. An exercise however nice to measure the Mauritanian sand. The caravan of the AFRICA ECO RACE will return to the seaside since the bivouac will be installed not far from Nouakchott, in Tiwilit to be precise, for two consecutive days.

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