Duo Mário Franco/Daniel Jordão in 13th place in the stage
After a well-deserved day of rest in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, the duo Mário Franco and Daniel Jordão, driving a Yamaha YXZ 1000R Turbo T3, returned today to the competition where they faced the longest stage of the race. The 7th stage that connected Riyadh to Al Duwadimi had a length of 873 kilometers, almost half a thousand of which were contested against the clock.
6h43m29s was the time spent by the Franco Sport team, clearly penalized by their starting position, which forced Mário Franco and Daniel Jordão to travel almost two hundred kilometers at night. Even so, the team achieved a very interesting 13th absolute time, a result that will allow them to start tomorrow's stage in a position that is much more in line with the team's usual pace, which with the result recorded today, moved up three positions in the Challenger Ranking, which allowed him to re-enter the Top 20
“There were almost 500 kilometers of selective sector. It was a very long day after a well deserved rest day and after the long marathon stage. As we started quite behind, due to the time we lost in this marathon stage, we ended up doing the last 170 kilometers of this special at night. It was a stage with quite complicated navigation, which became even more complicated when navigating at night, but we managed to get the car to the end without any major incidents. There were a lot of rocks and despite driving very cautiously, we got a puncture twice. The car is already being prepared and tomorrow we have another long day”, explained navigator Daniel Jordão in the bivouac installed in Al Duwadimi.
The next stage connects Al Duwadimi to Saudar and will have a selective sector with 458 kilometers. It will be a day of strong contrasts and a little easier than the previous stages. The special starts from the center towards the north of the country on another sandy walk, but without major difficulties. The striking change of scenery will remind competitors of the need to remain on high alert, as the sand will give way to rocks, creating very rugged terrain.
Automatic translation of the Portuguese version available on www.todoterreno.pt
Source: Franco Sport's official press release
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