The longest Leg of Fenix Rally 2021 offered 2 special stages with a total timed distance of 261 kilometers. The route consisted mainly of hard tracks and soft “pistes”, so the most powerful machines and the most experience drivers could push so hard, flying to the finish.
Once again, the fastest car was Jerome Pelichet’s desert bolide Optimus MD. The Frenchman made the 2 special stages for total 2:53:31 hours, leading 17 minutes over his compatriot Jean Pascal Besson, also driving suitable machine for the sands – the T3RR 2WD buggy. The fastest 4×4 vehicle was the Toyota ORD-150 of Rik van den Brink.
In the overall rankings, Jerome Pelichet is leading with a huge 55 minutes advance in front of Jean Pascal Besson. Agostino Rizzardi and his Porsche 911 proto are dropping to the 3rd place, finishing the day in 4th position.
It was battle to the last breath in the SSV class, where Lionel Baud and his amazing PH Sport Zephyr took the stage win. But they managed it with the tiny 2 seconds advance in front of Hugues Lacam with his serious prepared Can-Am. The big surprise for the day was the 3rd place of the Bulgarian Vladislav Velkov (Can Am), who made his debut not only in a desert race, but in the so called “Breslau series”, managed by RBI Sport.
In the general, the things are very different: Baud has 20 minutes advance to Lacam, and the leading trio is completed by Pelle Moens (NLD, Can-Am), 4th for the day.
In the bike class, Bram van den Wouden (Sherco) from Netherlands was fastest for the day, and leader in the general, so did it the Lithuanian Romualdas Karuzis in the ATV class of Fenix Rally 2021.
LEG 4 will be the most exotic of the rally, as after the first section, the participants will face the first part of this year’s marathon stage. This means, they will stay in a bivouac deep in the desert, without any assistance, but from fellow competitors.
