409 km of Africa Eco Race fell behind. The Moroccan tracks continue to surprise the sportsmen with punctured tires and, as a result, loss of time.
Andrey Karginov punctured two wheels on his way to the finish. “Now the time is tough for crews and vehicles as well. We didn’t have a very good day. First we went to the wrong direction. We decided to check, confirmed that we were going in the wrong way, came back, lost 10 minutes. Then our mechanic said that one wheel was deflated. At first the pumping system helped much. Later the second tire deflated. And again the pumping system worked well for a while. Then one tire blew up, we changed it, and in a while the other wheel blew up too. Without spare wheels we continued our way to the finish very accurately,” – told the pilot Andrey Karginov.
According to the words of the sportsman, these difficulties only add passion to the race.
“Morocco gives a challenge, but it’s Ok, everyone is in equal conditions. But the sweeter the victory is. If you finish first it means you were more careful and made less mistakes. As they say, the strongest wins, “– added Andrey Karginov.
As for the crew of Sergey Kuprianov, they fortunately had no problems during the stage. “Today the special was challenging, as it consisted of three parts: heights, fast sand roads, and stony tracks at the end, therefore a lot of crews stopped to change wheels. We remembered this leg from the last year. Then we lost here about an hour. However, this time we didn’t make a single stop, we didn’t change wheels, though we saw at the finish that they were not in a good condition. But in general we drove without time losses and we are satisfied,” – told Sergey Kuprianov.
Tomorrow the sportsmen will have to pass the final stage before the rest day in the resort town Dakhla. They have to overcome 450 km of the special and 150 km more along the public roads.
Africa Eco Race. Results of SS in the Truck Category.
S. Kuprianov 4ч 25м 55с
A.Karginov +7м 35с
J. Valtr +17м 25с
М. Kovacs + 28м 24с
Т.Tomecek +31м 51с
