Elisabete Jacinto won the sixth and penultimate stage of the Morocco Desert Challenge that took place today between Merzouga and Tendrara. The Bio-Ritmo® team was the fastest among the T4s to perform this special composed by 405 timed kilometers, the longest in this competition, and they took 5h53m11s to complete the entire selective sector. The Portuguese finished with a nine-minute lead to the Dutchman Martin Van Den Brink, the current leader of the truck class, and only one car managed to be faster than Elisabete Jacinto to complete today’s course including in this role the motorcycle competition.
The Portuguese formation, composed by Elisabete Jacinto, José Marques and Marco Cochinho, thus strengthened their overall position and they keep the third place in the truck category with a solid advantage of more than four hours for the Belgian Igor Bouwens who, at the wheel of an IVECO, is currently fourth in their class.
Elisabete Jacinto, who added her second stage victory on this rally, was the fastest driver among the Portuguese in the race and made a positive assessment of the day:
“It was a very beautiful stage on the Moroccan plateaus. Today the tracks were smooth and once it didn’t have many holes and ditches we were able to walk quite fast. Today we left in the fifth place and we were able to accelerate as much as possible until we started catching the trucks that departed in front of us. The navigation was complicated, but the Zé Marques never made a mistake and we came straight to the end. It was a great day. We are very happy with this victory”, said Elisabete Jacinto at the end of the special.
This edition of Morocco Desert Challenge is coming to an end. The seventh and final stage of this African race will be disputed tomorrow between Tendrara and Oujda and will be composed of 178 timed kilometers. This special will be shorter, but it won’t be easier. There will be a wide variety of routes that will alternate between fast tracks where competitors can accelerate without any risk and slower paths with lots of rock, holes and deep ditches. It will be a special that will require total concentration and a perfect navigation.
Elisabete Jacinto reinforced today the third place of the general classification of the trucks, position reached on the second day of the race, now that five of the seven stages that compose the Morocco Desert Challenge were disputed. The Bio-Ritmo® team now has an advantage of around 1h30m for Belgian Igor Bouwens, who is fourth in the overall of the T4 class, at a moment where there are only two stages of this great African marathon left to dispute. The Portuguese are thus closer to achieving the goals set at the start of this race.
“there was a sandstorm all night and at the time of leaving for the special the storm was so strong that there were no conditions to start the race. Thus, the organization postponed the competitions and the first motorcycle only left at noon. For this reason the stage turned out to be a little shorter because the organization decided to cancel the initial part of the special and we ended up not making the crossing of Erg Chebbi. Still we made the dunes of the Ouzina and made some of the Chebbi before we arrived at the camp. It was a very beautiful stage, difficult and sinuous. Despite the setbacks it all went well with no problem to point out”, said the Portuguese driver Elisabete Jacinto.
The Portuguese pilot Elisabete Jacinto finished the fourth stage of the Morocco Desert Challenge, a demanding journey with many sand passages and dunes, in second place in the truck category. The Bio-Ritmo® team took 4h40m31s to complete the 276 timed kilometers of the selective sector that was held between Oum Jrane and Merzouga.
“today’s stage was very varied, but it was also very difficult. The first part of the sector was fast and we managed to do it quite well. The second part was slower. We crossed two Ergs, the Ouzina and the Chebbi. In the first one we caught some very high dunes, but we passed them without any complication. When we reached the Erg Chebbi we had to make about 20 kilometers of dunes that were truly difficult to overcome. For several times, we almost got upside down. One time I even thought we would roll forward. The crests of the dunes were very high and the rear seemed to want to jump forward. But fortunately it went well and we are proud of the work we did today, “revealed Elisabete Jacinto on arrival in Merzouga.
Elisabete Jacinto conquered today the third place among the trucks at the end of the third stage of the Morocco Desert Challenge. The Portuguese took 5h46m35s to complete the 347 timed kilometers that made up the special that linked Foum Zguid to Oum Jrane. After three days of competition, Elisabete appears in the third position of the general table of her category registering a 40-minute lead over Igor Bouwens who, at the wheels of an IVECO, is currently the fourth among the T4.
“it went well. Even though we have passed the dunes very slowly, we didn’t have to dig or get stuck in the sand, which for us is very positive. As soon as we stepped out of the sand we accelerated and fought to go fast. We managed to finish among the first which is very good” said the pilot on the arrival at the camp that is situated in Oum Jrane.
Elisabete Jacinto achieved at the second stage of the Morocco Desert Challenge rally, which took place today between Icht and Foum Zguid, the fourth place among trucks. The Portuguese move forward in the competition in second place in the overall classification of their category with a lead of 14 minutes for the third place, the Dutchman Gert Huzink who already won this same race in 2015.
Elisabete Jacinto and her team completed another stage without problems:
The Portuguese driver Elisabete Jacinto started today her participation in the Morocco Desert Challenge with a victory among trucks. The first stage of this great African competition, held between Agadir and Icht, was particularly hard. The 387 timed kilometers that composed this special were made in irregular soils, with a lot of stone and narrow tracks that made difficult the progression of the teams in the field.
“It was a really difficult day. The tracks were very hard and were full of sharp stones that degraded our tires. We tried to go fast but it was difficult to make progress on this kind of floor. The navigation was very complex and required a lot of concentration on the part of our navigator José Marques. But, as always, he did an exemplary job and we were always on the right path. In addition to the difficulties inherent to the course we had to stop for three times to change the tires that, due to the bad tread, got flat and made us to lose some time. Adding to all this it was a very hot day. Our thermometer reached the mark of 41 degrees. But we are satisfied with the result above all because we have given our best” said Elisabete Jacinto.
The Portuguese, who participate at the wheel of a MAN TGS, have as main objective for this competition the achievement of a place at the podium of the truck category. However, although they acknowledge that there are many difficulties in this race, especially the ones regarding to the routes that the organization of the competition presented, they believe that it is possible to fight for a good classification: “what impresses me the most in this race is not only the number of trucks that are present, but their level of preparation. Each of them is a showcase of the team’s ability to prepare. If the level of progress in the race is equivalent … this race promises to be quite disputed”, revealed Elisabete Jacinto.