Rally-marathons seldom begin according to the planned scenario. Africa Eco Race is not an exception. Our arrival to Moroccan city Nador delayed, apart from that customs procedure passing delayed too. Therefore the race organizers came to the decision to cancel it for motorbikes and shorten it for cars. As a result, finish was on the 47th kilometer instead of planned 100 kilometers.
On the first stage the liaison was 545 km. Due to the start numbers, cars were first to start, and then,
Today the race was full of unexpected curves, which were difficult to see because of vehicles in front of us. The peculiarity of Morocco is the amount of sharp stones, therefore it was almost impossible to overtake.
The first stage was short, one can call it training. Nevertheless we saw three jeeps that had fallen out of the race. They had emergency lights on, and one of them was with a punched wheel. Another vehicle fell into a big hole, that torn off its wheel. Fortunately, nobody had any injuries.
The race organizer, Jean-Louis Schlesser, was meeting us at the finish. He said: “Think of today as a prologue to wake you up and remind you what real Africa is!” Tomorrow the crews will have to go through a more challenging special stage 313 km long. The prevailing relief of the forthcoming special stage is ridges of sand dunes in Merzouga town area.
Text Sergey Kuprianov
