The Africa Eco Race 2024 only ends tomorrow, but the winner has already been found: Gautier Paulin. The 11th stage was won by Pascal Feryn, but the Frenchman has already secured the overall victory on four wheels – tomorrow, the 12th and penultimate stage is only 15km long, being the consecration upon arrival in Dakar on the shores of Lake Rosa.
On a day with 247.61km timed between Akjoujt (Mauritania) and Boubene (Senegal), Feryn was the strongest in a Toyota from Feryn Dakar Team. He surpassed Ricardo Sousa (Old Friends Rally Team/Can-Am) by 4m24s, with the Portuguese winning in the T3 category ahead of Pierre-Louis Loubet (Apache). Heatcliff Zingraf (Casteu Trophy/Can-Am) finished fourth, as the strongest in the T4 category.
Fifth time of Carlos Vento (Old Friends Rally/Can-Am) completed the top five ahead of Paulin (Apache), while the seventh absolute time was of Aad van Velsen (Van Velsen Rally Sport/Scania) to take the best in the truck stage.
Before the consecration stage, Paulin leads with a 3h45m08s margin over Feryn, with Vento in third at 4h54m09s. The three also lead in their categories – T3, T1, and T4. Tomas Tomecek (Promet Czechoslovak Group Team/Tatra) secured the truck victory with the fourth place in the overall classification, while van Velsen is fifth. Frédéric Henricy (AT4R/Polaris) reigned among the SSV, in sixth. Rui Oliveira (Old Friends Rally Team/Can-Am) and Sousa, in ninth and tenth, guaranteed a double top ten for Portugal – they were second and third in the T3 category, respectively.
Top ten of Stage 11:
Top ten overall:
