After a busy day, celebrating New Year's eve on a rough sea, all the participants in the 10th edition of the Africa Eco Race arrived at the port of Nador at the end of Tuesday, January 2nd. A tough first day for all competitors with a special stage before reaching the bivouac 500 kilometers later.

After the obligatory passage through Moroccan customs, the caravan of the Rally was able to benefit from the first light of the sun around a Moroccan breakfast organised by the governor of Nador. All vehicles then took to the road to join the start of the race with the mountains of the Anti-Atlas as a backdrop. 51 kilometers of liaison before starting the race to warm up the engines under a cloudless sky... until 9:22 am local time when the first bike with Pal Anders Ullevalseter (Norway) made his mark on the route drawn by René Metge.

In the first stage, as a "warm up" the participants had to handle only 92 kilometers. On a gravelly rugged track, the 91 vehicles had to be wary of a complicated navigation between the wadis and the small, almost invisible tracks.

The first in the mixed cars-trucks category were the former Vladimir Vasilyev and Konstantin Zhiltsov from Russia (X-raid Mini) with 00:57:22 hours, 3:06 mins in front of the MD Buggy of the French Pascal Thomasse / Pascal Larroque and 5:25 mins before the first truck of the Dutch Gerard De Rooy / Darek Rodewald / Moi Torrellardona.

"This first stage went well, the Moroccan tracks are excellent," said Mini-driver Vasilyev after the stage. "It's been a long time since we have competed, so it was a very good warm-up, the car is running well, we were fastest but at the same time careful."

Pascal Thomasse reported: "It was rural land with lots of pebbles, we enjoyed the speed and the navigation was very good despite two small mistakes that made us lose about ten seconds. The car is perfect!"

In the bikes, the Italian Paolo Ceci (KTM) took the overall lead with 01:14:07 hours, followed by Pal Anders Ullevalseter (KTM, Norway, +2:19) and the Russian Dmitry Agoshkov (KTM, +3:53). "The navigation was difficult but I managed to overtake Ullevalseter midway and then we drove together, I'm very happy with my race," said stagewinner Ceci.

Photos: AER/FB

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