Rallying in the desert of Tunisia
Can you feel the smell of the sand, the noise of the wind and the mystic beauty of the desert? Have you ever dreamed about this type of freedom - the light blue limitless sky, infinite horizon and fullness of joy?
Thank you Tunisia for the warm welcome of Fenix Rally!
Fenix Rally 2021: a new era of the desert rallies just began
The newest event of RBI Sport was no doubt a great success, bringing new terrains and new emotions
The inaugural edition of Fenix Rally in Tunisia offered new terrains and new emotions to the competitors, which usually everybody sees on the routes of Breslau Poland and Balkan Offroad. The newest event of RBI Sport and especially a brain child of Alexander Kovatchev took place in the middle of March in the region of Douz โ the city labeled as โthe door to Saharaโ.
Tunisia welcomed Fenix warmly and with full support from the national and the local authorities. The race was under the partnership of the Tunisian Automobile Federation (FTA), the Tunisian Motorcycle Federation (FTM), the National Automobile Club of Tunisia and the countryโs National Tourist Office. The police, the National Guard office and the army guaranteed full support for a successful and safe rally. But there werenโt any concerns as the local people was more than happy to have such a world class event just in front of their homes and everybody offered help to the competition.
Six racing days and 10 timed sections were in the menu of the rally, including a marathon stage, which took all the participants in a desert camp without any help from their assistance crews. Over 1000 kilometers against the clock and perfect mixture of sands, dunes and fast tracks were combined with technical navigation and perfect road books. Fortunately, there werenโt serious accidents during the rally and almost all the participants reached the finish in Douz.
WINNERS
In the car open class first of all, the desert rally veteran ๐ ๐๐ง๐ค๐ข๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ฉ showed what it means to have long years of experience in cross country competitions. The second place went to ๐ผ๐๐ค๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ค ๐๐๐ฏ๐ฏ๐๐ง๐๐ and his exotic Porsche proto. The Italian made very good progress during the rally, and pushed in the last stages, to climb on the podium. But even more interesting was the situation with ๐ผ๐๐๐ข ๐ฝ๐ค๐ข๐๐ (BMW) from Poland, who completed the podium just in the last stage, beating the Bulgarian Dessislav Slavchev (Mercedes).
In the car limited category, it was ๐๐๐ช๐ง๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ผ๐ช๐๐ค๐ช๐๐ญ from France (Mercedes) who won the title in front of the Polish pilot ๐๐ง๐ฏ๐๐๐ค๐ง๐ฏ ๐ฝ๐ง๐ค๐๐๐ค๐๐ ๐ (Toyota) and the German ๐๐ง๐๐ฉ๐ฏ ๐ฝ๐๐๐ ๐๐ง (Toyota). As the teams from this class couldnโt compete with the powerful T1 protos, they showed that you can take such a long rally with a conventional off-road machine, if you have enough courage and are smart on the racetrack.
In the most crowded class โ those of the SSVs, it was ๐๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ก ๐ฝ๐๐ช๐, who took the maiden victory of Fenix Rally. The pilot from France took 5 from 6 stage wins, behind the wheel of the powerful PH Sport Zephyr, leaving no chance to his opponents with over one hour advance at the finish. Second in the โpetiteโ class became the driver from Netherlands ๐๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ก ๐ฝ๐๐ช๐ as Lithuanian ๐ฟ๐๐ก๐๐ช๐จ ๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ซ๐๐๐๐ช๐จ completed the overall top 3. Both pilots counted on Can-Am vehicles.
In the bike class, there was the Dutchman ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐ข ๐ซ๐๐ฃ ๐๐๐ง ๐๐ค๐ช๐๐๐ฃ (Sherco), who eliminate the competition of two French riders: ๐๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ก ๐๐๐ฃ๐จ๐ช๐ฎ (Sherco) and ๐๐ค๐ข๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ช๐ง๐๐ฉ๐ค๐ฃ (Husaberg). Van der Wouden was very constant and this paid off with more than 2 hours difference with the closest followers.
In the ATV class, it was Lithuanian domination, as ๐๐ค๐ข๐ช๐๐ก๐๐๐จ ๐๐๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐๐จ (Can-Am) took the victory of Fenix Rally 2021 and his compatriot ๐ผ๐๐ค๐ข๐๐จ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ช๐จ (CFMOTO) who get the โsilver medalโ. The third place was for the Polish rider ๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ก๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ฎ๐จ๐๐ (Can-Am).
