Category: News

Elisabete Jacinto has left the desert

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The Bio-Ritmo® racing truck is already up and running and finally the trio managed to get out safely from the Erg Chegaga dunes where they were for two days and two nights ago. The backhoe that helped the Portuguese to put the MAN TGS in its position arrived with them this morning when a complex operation began to straighten the truck. After many hours of work they were able to put the truck upright and after having checked the engine it was possible to remove the vehicle from the hole where it had fallen.

It is recalled that Elisabete Jacinto’s truck fell on Sunday during the third stage of Rallye Oilibya du Maroc because the front wheel on the right side got out of the rim, which caused a great instability in the MAN TGS that eventually fell on a dune.

The assistance team of Elisabete Jacinto acted promptly from the moment they realized that the broom wagon of the organization couldn’t reach the place where the trio was. The aid didn’t arrive sooner because the machine, rented by the team, took about 14 hours to reach the place where the incident occurred.

The Bio-Ritmo® team will be back in competition at the end of December, when the Africa Eco Race 2018 starts in Monaco.

Elisabete Jacinto waiting for the rescue

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The Bio-Ritmo® team is still waiting for help to lift the MAN TGS that fell yesterday in a dune area in the Erg Chegaga when the Portuguese were fulfilling the third stage of the Rallye Oilibya du Maroc. The Portuguese team was still trying to continue the race, but this situation depended on the help they would receive from the “broom wagon” sent by the organization on a rescue mission of the Portuguese.

However, the NPO truck failed to reach the place where Elisabete Jacinto and her teammates were and forced them to remain in the desert where they are at the moment. This way, and once that to continue in the race the Portuguese would have to arrive at the camp an hour before the first pilot left for today’s stage, the trio was forced to give up the rally.

Meanwhile the NPO helicopter has been with Elisabete Jacinto, José Marques and Marco Cochinho having left food and water.
The assistance team, which is about 400 kilometers away from where the incident occurred, has already sent support and is working to get the truck safely off. Jorge Gil, Director of the team, said: “they are doing well and we hope that the truck can still be in its normal position today, and then Marco will have to do the necessary work to start the engine” told the manager.

Elisabete Jacinto stopped in the desert

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The Portuguese driver Elisabete Jacinto is stopped in the desert, where she is likely to stay overnight, after her competition truck has turned in the dunes of the Erg Chegaga when the pilot attempted to dodge a mud-covered area.

The Bio-Ritmo® team was fulfilling the third stage of the Rallye Oilibya du Maroc, a long and difficult marathon day, when the incident occurred which left the Portuguese formation conditioned to the passage of the truck from the organization. The Portuguese are waiting for the help of the organization so that the MAN TGS can be lifted allowing them to stay in the race since the competitors can continue in the competition as long as they arrive at the camp one hour before the first pilot leaves for the next stage.

In the last hours a great sandstorm has risen which is greatly damaging the works of the Portuguese team that looks forward to the developments of the next hours.

Tomorrow will be the fourth and penultimate stage of the Rallye Oilibya du Maroc 2017. In the journey that will connect the Erg Lihoudi and Erfoud the competitors will, once again, face two selective sectors, the first with 191.56 km and the second with 263.51 km. On this day the caravan of the rally will go through the different types of Moroccan landscapes. Dune crossing, fast and winding rails, oueds, fesh-fesh and sand tracks are the ingredients of this stage that will certainly be decisive for the final result of the competition.