Second Leg: cauliflowers

It is 5 a.m. in the restaurant tent. The Gazelles, headlamps alight, are hard at work over their maps. Dominique Serra, Rallye founder and director general, opens the briefing with a reminder of one of the founding values of the Rallye: respect. “That includes not singing at midnight. You are here to have fun, to experience things that others only dream of experiencing. Time passes so quickly, anything can happen. Live your Rallye, but think about others around you before thinking of yourselves.”

Sport director Ludovic Taché comments on the first leg. Only two teams slept off-bivouac last night. Ten teams were penalized for making unnecessary calls to Rally Headquarters.  “Another important note: I will not bring anyone back to the bivouac. If I do, it means automatic Unranking for the entire Rallye. I will not negotiate.”

He then turns his attention to the second leg. With an ideal distance of 165 km, today’s loop should take about 9 hrs. 40 mins. “Time is going to start to fly. There’s only a week left. CP 1 is in the middle of Erfoud, there will be no flag and no checkpoint official. Drive carefully on the road and in the villages. And once again, watch out for planted fields.”

The Gazelles are going to discover the dreaded “cauliflower”: a large desert plant roughly resembling a cauliflower that is filled with sand and as hard as rock. Teams will need to recognize and avoid them. “Once again, be kind to your vehicle, the terrain may be tough today. There are a lot of very large rocks, significant oueds and deep ravines.”

For the e-Gazelles, the leg will start at 9:30. Not all of the vehicles were fully charged at 6 a.m. Their route, different from the other classes, is faster than yesterday and includes some tricky navigation at the final checkpoint. In Crossover Class, the Zoé is allowed to recharge at CP 2.