Africa Race. 9th stage

07.01.2013
Bivouac Tenadi.
Well, for us the longest and difficult stage of rally "Sonangol Africa Eco Race" also came to the end. So actively organizers prepared competitors to this stage, so the previous stage was difficult, that all concentrated and prepared for the worst. Prepare for the worst - it is always correct: if it happens, then you're ready, and if not, you will do everything better than you could. Trucks started, just behind Schlesser, in a sequence that was very favorable to KAMAZ. Today our crew could appreciate in full rivals’ professionalism - in the long distance, on the heavy sands. The position was favorable, guys understood that gradually they would overtake rivals, but were cautious, taught by yesterday's experience. They followed tracks. They caught up with Elizabeth before CP1, and then in one of the sand boxes guys overtook Tomecek. Try not to make mistakes. At one point, there was only the leader of the race Jean-Louis Schlesser ahead. "Desert Fox" oriented as mere mortals, choosing the path and carefully attracted to rare reference points. Some time there were straight high-speed sections, and thirty kilometers KAMAZ was the leader of the race!
Perhaps Schlesser stayed behind to estimate the KAMAZ potential; he could easily to draw away on a straight section, because the speed limit on the highway is applied only to trucks. We finished second, but later starting jeeps interfered with classification. Abdelhamid Abuyusef, who slept in the dunes after the first Mauritanian stage, took the first position according to the results of the stage, the second was Yves Fromon, Jean-Louis Schlesser came down to the third position with a delay of 13 minutes and 5 seconds. Anton Shibalov’s crew was the fourth at the stage; guys conceded to "Desert Fox" only 2 minutes and 39 seconds. Dmitriy Sotnikov, pilot of "KAMAZ-master": "Sands were harder than in Morocco, similar to yesterday’s, but we were ready, they even seemed to us to be denser. We passed these sands, I think that we could do it faster, but we didn’t risk. In one place the bumper hooked hard surface, when descending the steep dunes, I slightly crushed it. With the navigation everything was fine, the track was good, our trace would help someone to improve the result. Then there was vegetation, sandy road, winding, high-speed, similar to Astrakhan. It was interesting. Alternator belt began to whistle in fifty kilometers from the finish, we reduced the speed in order not to break the belt and no to overheat the engine. We carefully reached the finish line."

Anton Shibalov, pilot of "KAMAZ-master": Expect the worst. It seemed to me that it ended earlier than yesterday's, a shorter stage. Maybe because I was driving. Yesterday it seemed worse. We overtook Jacinto very quickly, we were for a long time behind Tomecek , he is an experienced racer, very wisely chooses the way. In general, it was a hard day, but we had more difficult days before. Today, a hundred kilometers from the finish, the track was as a mini-Astrakhan, nice looking and interesting way. Tomorrow there will be sands and golden dunes. Let's pass them and we will be almost at home."

The race in Africa will come to the end soon, and in Peru it's just the beginning. We follow the race in America, worry about our guys and we wish good luck to our companions.