Road rallies – Tunisia Rally Tour 2012 (J4): a flavor of rally raid –

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Tunisia Rally Tour 2012 (D4): a flavor of rally raid

Road rallies - Tunisia Rally Tour 2012 (J4): a flavor of rally raid -

Another stage victory for Serge Nuques on a Yamaha 450 WRF, but a good performance for David Di-Nitto on a Suzuki 750 GSX-R who won two specials out of the day’s four! In the provisional, the Grolandais knight Sergei still largely leads the dance. Story.

Another stage victory for Serge Nuques on a Yamaha 450 WRF, but a good performance for David Di-Nitto on a Suzuki 750 GSX-R who won two specials out of the day’s four! In the provisional, the Grolandais Knight Sergei still largely leads the dance. Story.

Today it’s a 337 km stage that awaits us, through chotts and desert expanses. Endless straight lines in the middle of endless landscapes are inevitable to reach Matmata, with two radically different stages of 5 km each: Boudhafer, narrow and rutted and above all very gravelly then Haddej, a motorcycle GP circuit !

Barely out of Tozeur through a pleasant palm grove, the very long crossing of Chott El Jerid awaits us. At the CP, installed at the famous cafe "chez Mama" in the middle of the Chott, a short stop is essential.

Once we arrive in Matmata, a loop of around fifty kilometers takes us through the two specials of the day, with two passages each. Today’s stage will therefore be classified over four stages.

The infamous Grolandais knight does not give any favors and wins again on the first pass of Boudhafer, the gravel stage. Vincent Philippe’s Suzuki 450 RMX R is still in second position at 3.2 seconds.

The surprise is in the third time, pocketed by the author of this report, Marcus "Myself" riding a Yamaha 1200 Super Tenere. “This bike is fabulous!”, He confides to himself: “safe, reassuring, it adapts to whatever may happen under its wheels. ABS is at the top on gravel as much as Tracking Control which manages acceleration perfectly. And with its almost flawless cycle part, it’s a real pleasure to drive fast everywhere! "

A small, friendly and exotic link route then leads us to the second special, Haddej, where the picture is very different: circuit grip, big curves, a very wide road: very, very fast !

Another surprise: it’s David Di-Nitto on his Suzuki 750 GSXR who steals the show from Chevalier Nuques! He got the best time in 2’24.4 more than 4 seconds faster than the Yamaha 450 WRF of the Grolandais! We could have expected to see Vincent Philippe ahead of Sergei on this special, closer to a circuit than a rally road, but this is the lack of horsepower of the Suzuki 450 RMX R "almost stock" of the champion of the world of endurance which made the difference compared to the Yamaha 450 WRF missile "quasi factory" of the Chevalier.

At the second passage of Boudhafer, Serge gives a layer and sticks more than ten seconds to Vincent. Vincent’s follower, Dominique Mougey on his Suzuki 650 Vstrom, finished third by sticking me almost 3 seconds (3’51.2 against 3’53.8) more than 20 seconds behind Serge Nuques (3’30, 5) !

Same scenario as in the previous lap on the second pass of the Haddej circuit: David De-Nitto confirms that he is the fastest on this special and slams the fastest time again in 2’21.5. Chevalier Sergei is second 1.4 seconds behind and Vincent Philippe third in 2.27.0.

Then it’s back to Matmata, where tomorrow’s stage will start towards Tataouine. In the evening, at the stage prizes, the podium, which has become usual for the first two places, has not changed, but the third step is for David De-Nitto, the driver of the Suzuki 750 GSXR for the Clermontois team.

Hats off to Ludovic Salvatori who cheerfully leads his KTM 125 Duke to eleventh place overall! To be continued: stay connected !

Marcus HIMSELF

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