Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles

In the Crossover category of the Rallye: the five La Poste, in their yellow Kangoos, a Renault Koleos and the two Mercedes Vianos. According to the rules, to race in the crossover category, a vehicle must have certain characteristics, including no low gears.

Anne-Marie Ortola is navigator for Team 307 / Mercedes,  with Janette James driving a Viano Daimler-Chrysler. She explains the specifics of the vehicle in the Rallye: "You could say that a crossover is in between a regular road vehicle and a 4WD. You can still cross lots of types of terrain but it doesn't have as much power or clearance as a 4WD. It can still take the trails and go over hills. We have to use all of the tools available to us to get through: navigation, reference points, landmarks, the terrain... We have almost the same course as the 4WD except in the dunes, we are spared the high dunes. We pass throughj the small dunes."

Salma Bricha and Nadia Atif of Team 184 / OCP SA resumed their route calmly yesterday, after taking a break that was... thirst-quenching! Passing through Oasis Sacré, the competitors were offered a cup of mint tea by three inhabitants. A gesture that was quite "normal" for these Moroccan Gazelles. "That's Morocco! And they often offer you a meal too: omelette, rice, salad!" We would like to imagine the girls staying to take a siesta in the shade of the palm trees... But no! They continued on their way, courageously, searching for their checkpoint at 30 degrees in the shade.

At 9:30 on the first day of Leg 6, not a single Gazelle had reached CP2. This marathon leg began with a sea of small dunes, difficult to cross and hard to distinguish on the map. There were a lot of teams circling around the checkpoints... Virginie Fromaget of Team 142 Total talks about their experience...

They are the only team to be driving this type of vehicle in the Rallye. An extra challenge for these Gazelles who, just one year ago, had never driven a heavy transport truck. Their baby is called Unimog and he weighs more than ten tonnes. But for Myriam Muzzuchini-Toffanello and Valérie Pasqualini, size doesn't matter (in fact they are competing in the 4WD category). and they consider themselves to be a team of three...