Pilot Elisabete Jacinto (MAN) reached today, in the special between Azougui and Akjout (Mauritania), the 2nd place in trucks in the ninth stage of the Africa Eco Race off-road and is in 4th position overall. The Portuguese was faster than the two drivers of the Kamaz team's powerful trucks.
The difficult course of this ninth round, which was again made up of many sand and dune tracks, did not prevent the OLEOBAN® team from achieving yet another excellent result. Only Czech Tomas Tomecek (in TATRA) managed to beat the trio composed by Elisabete Jacinto, José Marques and Marco Cochinho.
The TATRA pilot spent just five minutes less completing the selective section of 366 kilometers than the Portuguese. The Portuguese team also recorded the fifth best time in the joint auto/truck classification.
Elisabete Jacinto completed today's special in 4h31m27s and was satisfied with the result obtained: “it was a very beautiful special, less hard and faster than in previous years. Still, we had some very difficult dune passes. However, we didn't have any major problems and we always tried our best”.
“We managed to print a very fast and efficient pace and towards the end of the course we had a very heated dispute with Tomecek. We spent a lot of time discussing first place with the TATRA team, but then they managed to be faster than us and moved forward”, he added.
“Our intention is to continue to manage the stages well and make good classifications. Fortunately, we have managed to overcome all the problems that have arisen and the results are in sight”, said Elisabete Jacinto.
Tomorrow, the tenth special of the Africa Eco Race, which will link Akjout to Toueila, will take place. The penultimate stage completed in Mauritania will comprise 342 timed kilometers, on a day when competitors will have to cross, in the morning, a passage of huge dunes. Finally, there is a narrow and winding track, which winds through the dense vegetation.
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