For the second consecutive day, Pierre-Louis Loubet emerged victorious in the Africa Eco Race in four wheels – now in the seventh stage, which on Tuesday had its start and finish in Chami with 470.16km timed. Ricardo Sousa came second.
In an Apache, Loubet completed the course in 4h42m08s and surpassed the Portuguese from the Can-Am of the Old Friends Rally Team by a clear 29m08s. They also led the T3 category ahead of the best T1, Pascal Feryn (Feryn Dakar Team/Toyota). The Belgian outperformed Varga Imre (Varga Racing Team/Toyota) in his group.
The top five was completed by Teun Stam /Schijf Rally/Toyota), with Rui Oliveira (Old Friends Rally Team/Can-Am) in sixth – third among the T3. Tomas Tomecek (Promet Czechoslovak Group Team/Tatra) outperformed the trucks, being 8m02s faster than Aad van Velsen (Van Velsen Rally Sport/Scania) in the “heavyweights”.
In the overall classification, despite a modest eighth time of the day, Gautier Paulin (Apache) remains firm in the lead. However, there were many changes behind him: Carlos Vento (Old Friends Rally Team/Can-Am) lost two places and dropped to fourth. Pascal Feryn is now second (T1 leader) 3h36m38s behind Paulin, with Tomecek in third ahead of the trucks. Vento still leads among the T4, while Philippe Champigne (Team Adventure 79/Can-Am) is fifth and the new leader of the SSV: he is now immediately ahead of Frédéric Henricy (AT4R/Polaris), who dropped three positions in the overall classification of the four wheels. Van Velsen is the second in the trucks, in seventh.
Top ten of Stage 4:
Top ten overall:
