Fenix Rally 2022: Leg 7 - last dance with the Desert

All the crowned winners of the race

The final stage of Fenix Rally 2022 was not as easy and short as everyone expected after this really heavy week, but, following the big dunes from the previous day, it was like a park walk for some competitors. Some 140 kilometers from Douz to Ksar Ghilane and back, with very long and fast tracks and many sandy sections between them were in the menu. And then, after almost 2300 km special stages and 7 days, the new crowned winners of Fenix Rally are known.
Mathew Grid (#7, KTM) made it for the title of Fenix’22, after taking on command in the midway of the rally. The South African pilot arrived in Douz with only one minute and 8 seconds difference from Jacobi Mickael (#30, Gas Gas). The Frenchman at his turn, made it with 11 minutes difference from the placed on the 3rd place in the overall – Bartolomiej Tabin from Poland (#50, KTM), who attacked in the very last stages to be on the podium.
No surprises in the ATV class, where the pilots of CFMOTO Racing team claimed a double victory after leading the rally in the last days. First place for Antanas Kanopkinas (#33), who had 2:38 min. advantage to his compatriot from Lithuania Adomas Gancierus (#2). Well-deserved entrance in the top 3 for the Frenchman Nicolas Martinez (#3, Yamaha), who crossed the finish line 10 minutes behind the winner.
Benoit Lepietre (#414) claimed his victory in Fenix Rally 2022, after leading the classification of the most crowded class of the SSVs from the 5th day till the end. Second place for Tomas Mickus (#420) for Lithuania and third for the Polish pilot Maciej Stolarski (#437). Needless to say, Can-Am is the dominant brand in the lightweight class…
Moving to the Cars Open – the “royal” class of the Fenix Rally 2022, Urvo Mannama managed to keep his leadership after the penultimate day and finish the race with another stage victory. The Estonian succeed to keep distance from his main rival Rients Hofstra (Nissan Navara Proto, #218), and moreover - Dutchman had no chance to clear the time difference, losing more than 30 minutes just in the last two days. And if the leading duo has a big distance from the other competitors, it was a big fight for the 3rd place in the class, where Joel Purga (#237, Mulkland Mos1) managed to claim “the bronze medal” for Estonia.
In the Cars Limited, or “the Toyota” class, it was a no surprise victory for Daniel Vetter from Switzerland (#211) who had hours and hours advance to Claus Walden (#220) and Gilles Girouse.
Finally, as we expected days ago, William Van Groningen (Iveco, #505) is the big winner in the truck class, despite the last stage victories of Aad Van Velsen (Scania, #507), who finished Fenix Rally on the second place. Top 3 completed Klaas Steinhoefel (Man Kat, #503), with a huge time difference from the winner.
As Fenix Rally 2022 just finished, the race director Alex Kovatchev staert to building the plans for the next edition of the desert adventure in 2023. But, before that, the head of RBI Sport is involved for the upcoming Breslau Poland rally, which will take place in the well-known, starting in 26th of June. And after that, we expect the return of Balkan Offroad Rallye, which will take place in Romania, in the last week of September.

Source Fenix Rally