Competition-wise, a synthesizing leg

Crossover Class: no change

Team 311 (Christelle PERRIN / Lucie FAGEDET) clearly had trouble navigating. They took the road, went to 2 checkpoints, came back by the road… and missed the bivouac. Team 310 (Sandrine MARTIAL / Isabelle FAUST - Les tourtons du Champsaur et Classic All Blacks) got as far as CP3 but chose not to tackle the 4th which would have taken them quite a bit further south. Only two teams went for the gold today: teams 313 (Solen KERLEROUX / Carine POISSON - RUN FUN / MTECH) and 312 (Laetitia GIRAUD / Sarah SOURBIER - FRUIT4FIT), who ended up at the top of the day’s ranking. But that was not enough to change the provisional general ranking. Team 313 (Solen KERLEROUX / Carine POISSON - RUN FUN / MTECH), the Zoé, held onto top spot.

e-Gazelles

Determined to make up for yesterday’s penalty for losing their road sheet, Team 504 (Kiera CHAPLIN / Jazmin GRIMALDI - Saint Honoré) managed to hang onto the podium but in third position. Teams 503 (Natacha BORDRY / Clothilde HAMION - Crédit Suisse) and 502 (Mélanie MOR / Delphine MIQUEL - ENEDIS) took full advantage of their error, putting in solid performances, apart from a few minor navigation mistakes near the 4th checkpoint. Teams 504 (Kiera CHAPLIN / Jazmin GRIMALDI - Saint Honoré), 503 (Natacha BORDRY / Clothilde HAMION - Crédit Suisse) and 502 (Mélanie MOR / Delphine MIQUEL - ENEDIS) were neck and neck. Team 501 (Valerie ROMANN / Carine DECRAENE - ACER France) showed determination but committed some errors that left theme at the bottom of the pack.

Deception in Quad/Moto/SSV Class

The only two-wheeler team in this edition, Team 22 (Tracy MORANDIN / Valérie ROCHE - MORANDIN Yves), who have been displaying great persistence and excellent navigation, were forced to call for mechanical assistance not once but twice. The injectors on Valérie’s bike were clogged by sand. The penalty points acquired are almost certain to dash all hope of a podium finish: from second, they dropped to the penultimate position. They got back exhausted, extremely disappointed, betrayed by one of their machines. Betty Kraft, who leads the bikers by more than 5 km, applauded their performance. Unsurprisingly, Kraft retained her spot at the top of the class. This hard blow for Team 22 (Tracy MORANDIN / Valérie ROCHE - MORANDIN Yves) benefitted teams 27 (Prune SALTI / Elisa BOULAND - ESAF) and 26 (Amélie DELACHESNAIS / Emilie CAZAL) who, after an excellent leg, rose to third place.

A tough leg for the novice Gazelles

Long headings, a few hard-to-find passes, a bit of sand, scree fields, wide flat plains, a long stretch crisscrossed with desert trails heading in every direction… Today’s leg offered a diversity of terrains to entertain the First Participation teams or drive them crazy! Conditions were not helped by extremely limited visibility due to a veiled sky and a dusty horizon that effectively masked any distant features. Not to mention a famous zone between CP7 and 8 known as “Gazelles Hell”, and for good reason: between the poorly defined landscapes and surface riddles with potholes, they had their work cut out for them. But they loved it: Team 232 (Adeline BOURNISIEN / Anna LE REST - VINCI Facilities), sitting in 112th place, reached all 8 checkpoints for the first time and shouted with joy at the finish line. Team 201 (Florence BEAULIEU / Agnès JANIN - JATO DYNAMICS), 58th in yesterday’s general ranking, were less ambitious and settled for 5 checkpoints but “right on heading, every time. That’s it, we’ve got it!” At the end of the day, Swiss team 211 (Chloé PIRZKAL / Mireille VIDUEIRA) showed their usual precision and held onto their spot at the top of the general ranking, although it was Team 170 (Francine ABGRALL / Suzanne Wadsworth - Europ Assistance) and Team 118 (Veronique SGARRA BERIOT / Coralie GUEYDON) who took first and second positions for the leg.

The leaders dethroned

Contrary to all expectations, the top Gazelles, accustomed to setting the bar for the other teams, missed their mark today. The most spectacular fall was Team 246 (Carole MONTILLET / Sylvie GODEAU GELLIE - Vakkorama). After reaching checkpoint 8 in-extremis, they made a monumental error in judgement that cost them about 4 km, finishing 12th in the day’s leg, barely ahead of First Participation team 211 (Chloé PIRZKAL / Mireille VIDUEIRA). Team 238 (Hélène GRAND'EURY / Charlotte ZUCCONI - VAL THORENS/VALTHOPARC) had a similar story: the navigator, Charlotte Zucconi shed tears of frustration after committing a navigation error around CP6, which cost the team 4 km. The winner of the leg was “outsider’ team 245 (Myriam FILALI-MAIN / KARIMA LAAROUSSI - MOUHYI - SIKA) with 6-time Gazelle Karima Laaroussi and her novice teammate. Swiss team 234 (Emilie KÜHNI / Régine ZBINDEN - Importexa) ware just 170 metres behind them, followed closely by 169 (Laurence BRASEY / Véronique DE SYBOURG-SIFFERT), 7th in yesterday’s general ranking. Even Jeanette James of Team 202 (Jeanette JAMES / Emmanuelle TARQUINI DOS SANTOS - Bumper Off Road Jeep) suffered in this leg, although to a lesser extent. At the end of the leg, of the teams who had dominated the competition since the start of the Rallye, only Team 202 (Jeanette JAMES / Emmanuelle TARQUINI DOS SANTOS - Bumper Off Road Jeep) remained on the podium, in 3rd place. Top position in the general raking went to Franco-Canadian Team 107 (Stéphanie PERUSSE / Anne-Marie BORG - Bleu Blanc Rouge communication) with Anne-Marie Borg, longtime navigator of Jeanette James (202). Nothing can be taken for granted at the Gazelles!