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Africa Race 2024: Another good day for Feryn Dakar Sport
It's mountains and canyons, or a hall of a thousand men. Or the heat of deserts that I would love to conquer. The lyrics of the Clouseau song "Mountains and Ravines" the participants in the Africa Eco Race were allowed to take literally today. The third stage was again a varied ride with fast sections, cassant dunes, narrow roads and again tough navigation. The account of stage three.
Thursday morning the participants of the fifteenth Africa Eco Race left the bivouac of Mhamid behind them and headed for Assa. It became a trip of 523 km of which 463 km were driven against time. Team Feryn Dakar Sport experienced another excellent day. Thursday evening, therefore, there were nothing but smiling faces to be seen in the bivouac.
After three of the twelve stages, the field of participants has already thinned out considerably. "It is therefore quite a difficult and tough race," said Koen Wauters, who today drove the tenth fastest time in the open category of cars, trucks a SSVs. "Yesterday we were surfing in the dunes. Today it was working and the dunes were heavy. Chopped off here and there and very cassant. The issue was to be on point during those 40 km of dunes. One time I wasn't quite there and then we had a problem. For a moment we got stuck, but in no time we were riding again. Another mistake occurred on a narrow path where for a moment we unceremoniously chose a path a little lower down the slope. And just like yesterday, today the navigation was also quite tough."
Koen Wauters is second among the cars and follows 33:13 from leader and teammate Pascal Feryn. Pascal drove the ninth fastest time today. In the standings, he is sixth overall and first car. Koen Wauters is seventh and second car. "Beforehand I was so stressed about those dunes, but in hindsight it was unnecessary," said Pascal Feryn. "But those dunes kept coming. Once we got stuck and our nose was in the sand for a while. Fortunately it was limited to minor damage. The radiator grille was broken but fortunately the radiator itself wasn't hit. I am happy. That's the best way to sum up my feelings. The small and a lot lighter baby carriages are not to be followed. Those are fast, agile and have longer suspension travel than our Toyotas. No, we shouldn't focus on that."
The truck of Tom De Leeuw, Cedric Feryn and Bjorn Burgelman (Ginaf) drove the twelfth time. In the standings, the trio moves up to ninth place and are second truck. "Like yesterday, we also had a good day today," Bjorn Burgelman began his story of the day. "The approach towards dunes was quite bumpy and bad running. The dunes in themselves we got through. At one point we ran into Koen and Kris. Together with them we covered part of the dunes until we got ourselves stuck. The sand flats were hit along with the shovels. About twenty minutes later we were on the road again. Afterwards there was another section with many caps and river beds that we had to wade through. But all in all, a good day. On to tomorrow."
Source: Feryn Dakar Sport
Photo Diederd Esseldeurs
Helder