Goodbye 222

At this morning’s briefing, Dominique Serra, founder and director of the Rallye, announced that Team 222 (Sophie RICHARD / Sarah ES SEDDIQI - Centre Cardiothoracique de Monaco) is Unranked.

Their vehicle was damaged during yesterday’s leg in the dunes. While the Gazelles were outside the vehicle in the process of checking their heading, the hand brake was insufficiently engaged, and their vehicle rolled down into a 5-metre ravine, coming to a stop on a rock. The vehicle is too badly damaged to continue the competition (broken suspension arm, wheel smashed into the fender, radiator destroyed, damaged undercarriage protection). Fortunately, neither Gazelle was injured.

As a reminder, “the Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles is the only rally that allows teams to continue the adventure after their vehicle breaks or the team is Unranked. If the vehicle is out and the competitors become pedestrians, we do everything we can to help them finish the adventure in Essaouira.”

Sophie and Sarah, visibly moved, wanted to make a short speech: “It’s hard, but we have accepted it and we wanted to say goodbye to all of you, to wish you great competition legs to come a good end of Rallye. And to thank the organization, who have been so supportive since yesterday. Today, we will have the pleasure of spending the day with Marina at Cœur de Gazelles. As nurses, that will mean a lot to us. In spite of everything, we will be very happy to see you in Essaouira and to celebrate with you.”

The tears flow. The Gazelles have lost their car but not their heading: “Our adventure is not over, so if you want to support us, don’t hesitate to vote for us in the Beauty Car Challenge (Gazelles vote for the best-decorated vehicle – the winning team is awarded a discount of €8,000 on their registration fees for the 2019 edition).” Their words were met with warm applause.