ALL TEAMS MOVE INTO TOP EIGHT POSITIONS
The Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart quartet began the first day in Africa continuing to apply pressure on rally leaders from the rival Volkswagen team.
Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret were the fastest of the Mitsubishi crew on yesterday’s stage, leading teammates Luc Alphand and Gilles Picard by 24 seconds in bright, sunny conditions in North Africa.
"It was not easy at all," said Peterhansel. "The stage was not so long, but very hard. Maybe we passed more than 100 bikes and that means you need to take care."
Hiroshi Masuoka and Pascal Maimon were the fastest of the Mitsubishi crews at the first passage control, but eventually finished in seventh position after damaging the power-assisted steering.
Joan 'Nani' Roma and Lucas Cruz were the second crew on the stage. "Not so good today," said Roma. "I had two punctures and a shock absorber problem. The jack was not working properly and we had to change the wheel manually.”
"We know that Volkswagen are pushing, but the rally has started in a similar fashion to last year," said Dominique Serieys. "The higher altitude in the mountains seems to suit the Volkswagens better. In Tan Tan, last year, Stéphane was some way behind and it all changed in Mauritania.
