GIZA – The emotion to finish the Pharaons Rally at the Giza Pyramids it’s a unique thing in the scenery of the rally raid. An even stronger emotion for the winners of the 2015 edition: Nasser Al Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel (QAT/FRA – Mini All4 Racing) among the cars, Jakub Piatek (POL – KTM) among the bikes and Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT – Honda) among the quads.
The last leg of the 2015 Pharaons has started this morning from the Baharija Oasis for a special of 339 kilometres, a special that traditionally shows up some surprises. But tradition was almost playing against Mohammed Al Balooshi (ARE – KTM), the pilot that dominated the first three stages and yesterday lost his leadership for a navigation mistake. An engine failure of his KTM right before the CP1 has obliged him to push his bike for five kilometres, then got to the finish one hour and half after the winner of the stage JakubPiatek. Fortunately he has managed to keep the third absolute position. Piatek is now able to celebrate his first World, stepping on the highest place of the podium together with Chavo Salvatierra (BOL – KTM) and Mohammed Al Balooshi.
Alvis Lecis won the over 450 class in fron of Tommaso Biondi and Cesare Francolini.
In the quad category Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT – HONDA), strong of twelve minutes over the Polish Rafal Sonik POL – Yamaha), today only had to manage it to ensure his final victory. Beyond the winner of the last Dakar, together with him on the podium the French Antoine Lecomte (Yamaha).
No surprises among the cars. Victory of the day has not been useful to Yazeed Al Rajhi (SAU – Toyota), as well as the second place of the Russian Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS – Mini) to challenge the leadership of Nasser Al Attiyah, that summed an advantage 10 minutes. With the third position of stage, the “prince of the desert” has ensured himself the final victory in front of the Saudi Al Rajhi and the Russian Vasilyev, after the passionate battle that lasted five days.
The T2 class was won by the lebanese based in Abu Dhabi, Emil Khneisser, in front of Kazak Denis Berezovskiy. Raul Orlandini is the winner of T3.
So it can be recorded up this 2015 edition of the Pharaons Rally, a competition that has once again confirmed to be “different”. Egypt, its history, a desert that changes continuously its feature, the bivouac in top African style , the familiar atmosphere … But mainly the 2015 Pharaons Rally has established that racing in Egypt is wonderful and cool at the same time.
Don’t forget to join the legend also on 2016. Pharaons is different!
Nasser Al Attiyah (QAT – Mini): “Easy game today. We controlled the race and didn’t any mistake. It was a nice and fast stage, but finally the average speed was very high during the whole race. I love this rally, and love to come back to Egypt, and of course love to win. Pharaons had a good name and we have good drivers here, so it’s a good feeling to win the Rally and celebrate in front of the Pyramids. We had a good strategy from the beginning and we were the leaders from the second day, so I’m happy.”
Yazeed Al Rajhi (SAU – Toyota): “We planned to catch Vasilyev and after 30 km we saw his dust. But than, at km 35 we got a puncture, and lost some time. I pushed to catch him again, and we drove together between the dunes. I passed him just at the end of the dunes, and kept him behind us. It was a nice race, we got more experience, which will be useful for the future. Good race, good organization.”
Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS – Mini): “The first part of the stage was good, but after the dunes we got a puncture and we had to stop to change the wheel. But. we are really happy to be here and happy to be on the podium. We show we could fight and we finished a very good race. And now? The battle must go on!”
Jakub Piatek (POL – KTM): "Its amazing, I just can’t believe it!. This is my first Pharaons, and also the others are faster than me, but... I could fight here and I could beat them. Maybe because I did only one mistake and the others did more. Today was really very fast, the fastest day in the race.”
Chavo Salvatierra (BOL – KTM): "The day was not so bad, but the race was complicated, because of the new rules, which are absurde. I love this race, it’s my third Pharaons Rally and I love also Egypt, the dunes here and the atmosphere. Second place is good, but of course my goal was to win.”
Mohammed Al Balooshi (ARE – KTM): "At the beginning of the stage I was in front, but then, 9 km from the refuelling point I had a problem: my second fuel-tank was not working. I tried to solve the problem and could ride 4 more km, but 5 km before the point the bike stopped again. I decided to push, and don’t give up... So I pushed this very heavy bike... I pushed like there is no tomorrow... Finally if I didn’t win, I tried to achieve the best position I could: it was the 3rd, and I’m happy with it..”
Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT – Honda): “My race was consistent and enjoyable. I’ve got a lot of very useful experience, which is very important for me. This race is a good preparation for the Dakar, a lot of caps, a lot of kilometers. I learned a lot, and I’m happy with the result.”
Rafal Sonik: (POL – Yamaha): "Smooth day, finally! At the beginning it was not very easy, but the end was OK and I’m happy. If I compare this race with the others, its easier to win the others. So I have to think about this. This is my 4th time here, and I only won once. I had a lot of problems the first two years, and I asked myself what else could come this year. Its not good, because I opened a door with it. But... This is the beauty of the racing.”
CARS
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 302 | NASSER SALEH AL ATTIYAH | AL-ATTIYAH NASSER BAUMEL MATHIEU | QAT FRA | FIA | MINI ALL4 RACING | T1 | 2 | 0 | 14:00:02 | |||||
| 2 | 2 | 1 | 308 | YAZEED RACING | AL-RAJHI YAZEED GOTTSCHALK TIMO | SAU DEU | FIA | TOYOTA HILUX OVERDRIVE | T1 | 1 | 0 | 14:06:35 | |||||
| 3 | 3 | 2 | 301 | G-ENERGY TEAM | VASILYEV VLADIMIR ZHILTSOV KONSTANTIN | RUS RUS | FIA | MINI ALL4 RACING | T1 | 2 | 0 | 14:08:20 | |||||
| 4 | 4 | 2 | 305 | ORLEN TEAM | DABROWSKI MAREK CZACHOR JACEK | POL POL | FIA | TOYOTA HILUX OVERDRIVE | T1 | 1 | 0 | 14:56:01 | |||||
| 5 | 5 | 3 | 306 | ZAPLETAL MIROSLAV | ZAPLETAL MIROSLAV MARTON MACIEJ | CZE POL | FIA | H3 EVO VII | T1 | 1 | 0 | 15:08:07 | |||||
| 6 | 6 | 4 | 304 | OVERDRIVE RACING | VARELA REINALDO GUGELMIN GUSTAVO | BRA BRA | FIA | TOYOTA HILUX OVERDRIVE | T1 | 1 | 0 | 15:14:07 | |||||
| 7 | 7 | 3 | 303 | X-RAID TEAM | VAN LOON ERIK ROSEGAAR WOUTER | NLD NLD | FIA | MINI ALL4 RACING | T1 | 2 | 0 | 15:34:33 | |||||
| 8 | 8 | 5 | 310 | MOBILEX RACING TEAM | SAZONOV YURIY SAKHIMOV ARSLAN | KAZ KAZ | HUMMER H3 EVO | T1 | 1 | 0 | 15:48:34 | ||||||
| 9 | 9 | 6 | 319 | OPEL DAKAR TEAM | SZALAY BALAZS LAKLOTH ALADAR | HUN HUN | OPEL MOKKA | T1 | 1 | 30:00 | 17:25:46 | ||||||
| 10 | 1 | 1 | 316 | 4WD JATON RACING | ORLANDINI RAUL BLANCO EDUARDO | PER ESP | TOYOTA HILUX | T3 | 1 | 0 | 20:06:20 | ||||||
| 11 | 1 | 1 | 324 | KHNEISSER EMIL | KHNEISSER EMIL KUZMICH ALEKSEI | LBN RUS | NISSAN PATROL Y62 | T2 | 1 | 30:00 | 20:22:28 |
BIKES
| 1 | 1 | 11 | PIATEK JAKUB | POL | ORLEN TEAM | KTM BIKE | 450 | 0 | 17:44:59 | ||
| 2 | 2 | 10 | SALVATIERRA JUAN CARLOS | BOL | KTM WARSAW RALLY TEAM | KTM RALLY REPLICA 450 | 450 | 0 | 17:48:18 | ||
| 3 | 3 | 7 | BALOOSHI MOHAMMED | ARE | KTM UAE | KTM RALLY BIKE 450 | 450 | 0 | 19:21:03 | ||
| 4 | 1 | 102 | ABU-ISSA MOHAMMED | QAT | ABUISSA RACING | HONDA TRX 680 | QUAD | 12:00 | 20:05:02 | ||
| 5 | 4 | 14 | GAGGIANI ANDREA | ITA | FZ FACTORY | KTM RALLY REPLICA 450 | 450 | 0 | 20:12:24 | ||
| 6 | 2 | 100 | SONIK RAFAL | POL | SONIK TEAM | YAMAHA RAPTOR 700 | QUAD | 0 | 20:12:49 | ||
| 7 | 5 | 13 | NIFONTOVA ANASTASIYA | RUS | VEB RACING | HUSQVARNA 450FE | 450 | 0 | 21:24:46 | ||
| 8 | 1 | 153 | LECIS ALVIS | LVA | KTM 500 EXC | OPEN | 0 | 23:02:16 | |||
| 9 | 3 | 104 | LECOMTE ANTOINE | FRA | TEAM AL DESERT | YAMAHA QUADDY 450 YZR | QUAD | 0 | 25:11:14 |
