Linked in categories: 2018 | Dakar 2018 | Rallyraid

Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge: ´Nightmare in Dunes´ for Nissan´s Marsh/Greyling

lang Editor: Hansy Schekahn lang Photos: See credits under article   lang In database since March 29, 2018

"Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts!" This is the motto of the South African duo Terence Marsh and Riaan Greyling, competing in one of the (former) four new Red-Lined / Sabertooth Nissan Navara from South Africa. It´s like always when you introduce a new rallycar for the rallyworld: You need to test, to improve, to test, to improve... Think about the German X-raid team which needed years to be on the top...

Red Lined is not "some" Nissan Team, Red Lined is "The" Nissan Team. What today are the Overdrive Toyota Hilux, Nissan was before - invented and built in South Africa. And Nissan will be back - with the all new Nissan Navara Rallyraid. The car had it´s premiere in the final South African Cross Country Championship round last year, then the first car ran at the Dakar (with the German Juergen Schroeder), later in the "Ha´il Saudi Rally" and "Dubai International Baja".

And now in Abu Dhabi, for the car it´s the premiere in a FIA Marathonrally - also with one of the developers behind the wheel: Terence Marsh. Four cars started in Abu Dhabi, two rolled, two are running well. But yesterday was a special day, this time for Terence Marsh and his navigator Riaan Greyling themselves...

Marsh / Greyling were the best Nissan Navara crew in the race, after SS02 the reached the Top 10 overall and managed the 8th position after SS03. But while the second Nissan of Thomas Bell and Patrick McMurren could reach the 9th position in the daily rankings after SS04 (Wednesday), the stage became a nightmare for Marsh and Greyling.

"After moving up to 7th overall in the event during the first 150 km of the 280 km dune stage, life seemed pretty good and going according to script... but then at km 177 we broke a rear driveshaft thereby losing 4wd while in the middle of some really big dunes," Marsh reported after the stage.

"Needless to say it quickly became a nightmare as myself and Riaan tried to get ourselves out of the dunes with just power to our front wheels - and this in the middle of the day with external temperatures above 40 degrees and the sand at it softest! After dropping the tyre pressures dramatically, executing several recoveries with our sandladders and then driving out in motocross style as momentum was our only option at the time with just having 2wd... we eventually managed to escape the dunes."

"Thereafter some mechanical work was required to remove the damaged driveshaft before making our way to the end of the stage in 2wd which meant we had to miss several waypoints in the process as getting back into dunes to collect these waypoints was not an option. The result thereof was more than five hours of penalties which saw us come tumbling down the leader board at pace!"

But giving up is not an option: "Thursday will try and fight back... let's see how this adventure ends!"

Cars Stage Provisional positions SS04 ADNOC Stage

01) Prokop / Pabiska (CZE/CZE) I Ford F-150 Evo I 03:29:55 I 00:00:00
02) Despres / Ravussin (FRA/CHE) I SMG 2Wheels Buggy I 03:30:26 I 00:00:31
03) Vasilyev / Zhiltsov (RUS/RUS) I X-raid Mini I 03:32:24 I 00:02:29
04) Przygonski / Colsoul (POL/BEL) I X-raid Mini I 03:36:35 I 00:06:40
05) Al Qassimi / Panseri (ARE/FRA) I Peugeot 3008 DKR I 03:37:21 I 00:07:26
06) Alphand / Schulz (FRA/DEU) I X-raid Mini Buggy I 03:45:00 I 00:15:05
07) Alferaihi / Alsanad (SAU/SAU) I Nissan Patrol Pickup I 04:04:27 I 00:34:32
08) Schott / Fiuza (DEU/POR) I X-raid Mini I 04:22:25 I 00:45:51
09) Bell / McMurren (ARE/ARE) I Red-Lined Nissan I 04:27:25 I 00:57:30
10) Rosenberger / Bleicher (AUT/DEU) I X-raid Mini I 04:28:49 I 00:58:54

Cars Overall Provisional positions after SS04 ADNOC Stage

01) Prokop / Pabiska (CZE/CZE) I Ford F-150 Evo I 14:31:07 I 00:00:00
02) Przygonski / Colsoul (POL/BEL) I X-raid Mini I 14:46:28 I 00:15:20
03) Vasilyev / Zhiltsov (RUS/RUS) I X-raid Mini I 15:20:07 I 00:48:59
04) Al Qassimi / Panseri (ARE/FRA) I Peugeot 3008 DKR I 15:24:28 I 00:53:20
05) Despres / Ravussin (FRA/CHE) I SMG 2Wheels Buggy I 16:09:18 I 01:38:10
06) Schott / Fiuza (DEU/POR) I X-raid Mini I 17:28:14 I 02:57:06
07) Alferaihi / Alsanad (SAU/SAU) I Nissan Patrol Pickup I 17:51:39 I 03:20:31
08) Rosenberger / Bleicher (AUT/DEU) I X-raid Mini I 19:20:10 I 04:49:02
09) Al Shegawi / Lichtleuchter (SAU/FRA) I Nissan Patrol I 19:42:25 I 05:11:17
10) Abdulla / Al Kuwari (QAT/QAT) I Nissan Patrol T2 I 20:39:57 I 06:08:49





Photos: Sabertooth, Red Lined

ABU DHABI DESERT CHALLENGE   RED LINED MOTORSPORT   SABERTOOTH MOTORSPORT


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