Wednesday was a very difficult day for the Fenix rally participants in Tunisia. In total, they
had to cover over 450 kilometers, of which 252 were special stages. Although the tracks
themselves were quite difficult, everything was made even more difficult by a raging
sandstorm - athletes were telling about the difficult conditions and said that the storm
should continue tomorrow.
The athletes of the CFMOTO RACING TEAM, who have been firmly in the first and second
places in the ATV standings so far, have experienced first difficulties today, due to which
their closest rivals, the Frenchmen G. and N. Martinez, narrowed the gap. One caught up by
two, the other by ten minutes. Despite that, both team members still hold the top positions
of the ATV standings.
After the finish, Antanas Kanopkinas said that the day was one of the hardest, and already in
the first kilometers he had to get out of the sand: “My day started by getting stuck in the
dune - I lost about a minute and a half. We only managed pull out my ATV together with
Adomas’ help, and after that we drove together all day. The track was very dangerous and
fast for ATVs, the Lithuanian Jonas Lipavičius even had an accident and broke his ATV. At the
same time, as we have seen, motorcyclists and side-by-sides flew like wind. ”
A. Kanopkinas was glad that he managed to reach the finish line today and did not hide that
the narrowed gap from the rivals "hurts", but there’s three more days ahead. Before
tomorrow, athletes hope to rest and regain strength, as today's race has taken a lot of it.
Adomas Gančierius also had incident on the track – in the eighth kilometer the athlete had
to stop and fix a flat tire. According to him, it cost about five minutes. After that, A.
Gančierius helped the stuck teammate and the rest of the route team members covered
together.
"It was a very difficult day: dust, sandstorm. I had to drive carefully. The second speed
section was more reminiscent of a classic rally – I was riding mostly in full-throttle mode,
”said A. Gančierius.
On Thursday, participants will have to cover the highest number of speed stage kilometers -
262 and only 50 km of liaison await them. True, everything will be even harder because of a
strong sandstorm, so tomorrow does not promise to be easier than it was today.
Speaking about the Thursday route, A. Kanopkinas noted that the dunes and the forecasted
sandstorm will cause great navigational challenges - no ruts will be seen, so everyone will
have to rely only on their own navigational skills.
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