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Fenix Rally 2024: Day 6 - Full throttle deep in the desert
Different terrains around Ksar Ghilane made the race tough, but interesting
Day 6 of Fenix Rally 2024 offered more than 310 kilometers against the clock in the area near Ksar Ghilane. The route offered practically every kind of terrain – fast sandy and gravel tracks, rocks, dunettes and dunes, of course combined with tricky navigation.
Sebastian Tocaben (№1, KTM) proved that he is very experienced in the sand and it’s not a matter of luck that he won the last year’s edition of Fenix in the bike class. The Frenchman took 2:21 minutes advance to Christian Pastori (№26, Husqvarna) and claimed the stage win. Third for the day was Robert Przybylowski (№12, KTM), almost 8 minutes behind Tocaben, who is leading also in the overall standings, far away from his rivals.
Same situation in the ATV class, where another French pilot is on the way to the victory in Fenix Rally 2024. Gerome Pla (№23, Polaris) set the fastest time around Ksar Ghilane, beating with almost 9 minutes his fellow countryman Gilles Mecene (№28, Yamaha). Jamie Shaw (№21, Can-Am) made the third best time of the day, far away behind the flying Frenchmen. Pla is undisputed leader in the class, hours away in front of his rivals.
Jerome Pelichet (№215) and his 2WD desert bolide Optimus felt so comfortable in the sands, which guided to another stage win for the French veteran. Slightly one hour advance for Pelichet for the day to Alexander Oberlechner (№210, Land Rover) and another 20 minutes to Tudor Alexandru (№218, Gekko). If something not happen in the last 2 days, Pelichet will take his second title in the car class.
Alexander Parpottas (№430, Polaris) was the fastest in the SSV class during the sixth day of Fenix Rally 2024. The pilot from UK took slightly than 4 minutes advance to Arturas Vaidotas (№432, Can-Am) from Lithuania and more than 3 more minutes to Herve Guillaume (№429, Can-Am) from France. Guillaume is the new overall leader, as Marcin Graczyk (№425, Can-Am) from Poland, who leaded the rankings the previous day, had a lot of troubles around Ksar Ghilane, which caused him almost hour and a half time loss. But there is no comfort for the Frenchman, as Parpottas is just a minute behind him and the game can change really fast and unexpectedly.
No surprising, Paolo Calabria and his well-prepared rally truck MAN were flying in the dunes to clinch another stage win (and for sure the general one). The Italian finished with more than an hour advance to Klaas Steinhoefel and the third participant in the truck class Matthias Koerber didn’t start the stage, causing him another portion of penalty hours.
The penultimate leg of the Fenix Rally 2024 will bring back competitors to Djerba. The track will start in the east direction of Ksar Ghilane and will offer mainly fast gravel tracks, some parts of dry chott terrains and a little bit sand in the end. In the menu there are 296 kilometers, 202 of which are competitive, split on two timed sections.
Source: RBI / Fenix Rally
Helder