The first competitive day of the Fenix Rally in Tunisia got off to a chaotic start. Due to the heavy rainfall of the past few days, participants were unable to reach the bivouac in Douz, forcing organizers to set up an improvised camp in Tozeur. It turned into a logistical nightmare with consequences that rippled through the entire day. The scheduled drivers’ briefing was canceled and replaced by a written statement. Official results are still pending.
From a sporting perspective, Koen Wauters (Toyota Hilux) used the opening stage mainly to get back into the rhythm of rally-raid driving, while Pascal Feryn (Toyota Hilux) was forced to complete the final section without power steering.
Late last night, around 1 a.m., the trucks and support vehicles of Feryn Dakar Sport arrived in Monastir. After Friday morning’s briefing, the team headed out on a 40-kilometer liaison to the start. Wauters began his rally at 11:18 a.m.
“For me, today was a warm-up day,” said Koen Wauters. “The last time I drove the car was back in April. Of course, I still know how to turn a steering wheel, but you have to get a feel again for how the car reacts in different situations. It takes a bit of time to get everything back in your hands so you can start pushing at full pace again. It wasn’t a bad day, but I’m not yet in the same rhythm as I was during the stages in Morocco last April.”
Despite the chaos, Wauters finished the day with a positive feeling. “I think Raf Thijs was a bit faster, but I expect our Toyotas to be up there, even though Pascal already had some bad luck. The problem is, we still don’t know our actual results — and I’m afraid it might take a while. We received a time penalty for missing a waypoint, but in fact, we didn’t miss it — we just couldn’t validate it. So we filed a protest. And there were a few other issues today that didn’t work properly. The Sentinel system (the alert that warns when another vehicle is approaching to overtake) was working on and off. The situation at the improvised bivouac is total chaos; nobody really knows what’s going on. By Saturday morning, there will have to be results — otherwise, we can’t start.”
During the opening stage, drivers couldn’t really get into a good flow. There was a lot of dust and plenty of tight turns, making it hard work inside the car — especially when the power steering failed. “About 25 kilometers before the end of the stage, the steering rack coupling came loose,” explained Pascal Feryn afterwards. “So I had to finish not only the final part of the stage but also the 250-kilometer liaison that followed without power steering. I can really feel it in my arms.”
On Saturday, competitors face a 219-kilometer stage, which will be interrupted twice — one of those times for refueling.
Official press release
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