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26/04/2008 //
RAID - FIA CROSS-COUNTRY RALLY WORLD CUP 2008 - ROUND 1: RALLYE DE TUNISIE - BFGOODRICH RETURNS TO AFRICA
FIA CROSS-COUNTRY RALLY WORLD CUP 2008
ROUND 1: RALLYE DE TUNISIE
APRIL 23 – MAY 3, 2008
PREVIEW
BFGOODRICH RETURNS TO AFRICA
Following the cancellation of last January's Dakar, competitors drawn by the wide opens spaces of northern Africa are lining up for the opening round of the 2008 FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup, the Rallye de Tunisie, which starts in Marseille on April 23. The event features a programme of ten legs, including a long loop through Libya before the scheduled finish in Djerba on May 3. BFGoodrich will obviously be active on the event with top teams like Schlesser Aventures and Dessoude.
Despite the direct competition it faces in the calendar from the newly-created Central Europe Rally which has attracted the Mitsubishi and Volkswagen factory line-ups (who also skipped Tunisia this time last year), the North African fixture has attracted a strong entry of fans of the African continent and its dunes. The 300-strong field, which includes around 60 in the car category, is of a high quality and the fight for top honours promises to be extremely close.
Last year's event was won by the boss of Schlesser Aventures, Jean-Louis Schlesser, and his team has this year entered two BFGoodrich-equipped buggies for Dominique Housieaux and Jose Luis Monterde. The Schlesser buggies, which have won this rally five times in all, are ideally suited to the terrain thanks to their powerful engines, agile two-wheel drive transmission and BFGoodrich Baja T/A tyres.
Christian Lavieille, who came second in 2007, will also be hunting for victory with his Nissan Dessoude/BFGoodrich prototype, as will BMW/BFGoodrich drivers Paulo Nobre and Orlando Terranova, although a total list of perhaps ten drivers can seriously hope to take the spoils when the Rallye de Tunisie ends on the island of Djerba on May 3.
Before then, they will have had to contest some of North Africa's finest cross-country rally stages, including certain new tests in Libya and over the Oubari Desert. The menu will include a little bit of everything, from dunes and navigational sections to mountain tracks, making a total route of 4,123km across a magnificent variety of landscapes and terrains.
"This is an event that BFGoodrich has won several times in the past and it is the only round of the 2008 FIA World Cup that takes place on the continent of Africa," points out BFGoodrich Rally-Raid Technician Dominique Bravy. "We don't expect to encounter any particular problems and the Rock T/A, which is the tyre that has been chosen by the majority of the car runners, is a largely tried and tested product. It will still be important, though, for the drivers to ensure that their tyres are always correctly inflated for the sandy and rockier sections."
ROUND 1: RALLYE DE TUNISIE
APRIL 23 – MAY 3, 2008
PREVIEW
BFGOODRICH RETURNS TO AFRICA
Following the cancellation of last January's Dakar, competitors drawn by the wide opens spaces of northern Africa are lining up for the opening round of the 2008 FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup, the Rallye de Tunisie, which starts in Marseille on April 23. The event features a programme of ten legs, including a long loop through Libya before the scheduled finish in Djerba on May 3. BFGoodrich will obviously be active on the event with top teams like Schlesser Aventures and Dessoude.
Despite the direct competition it faces in the calendar from the newly-created Central Europe Rally which has attracted the Mitsubishi and Volkswagen factory line-ups (who also skipped Tunisia this time last year), the North African fixture has attracted a strong entry of fans of the African continent and its dunes. The 300-strong field, which includes around 60 in the car category, is of a high quality and the fight for top honours promises to be extremely close.
Last year's event was won by the boss of Schlesser Aventures, Jean-Louis Schlesser, and his team has this year entered two BFGoodrich-equipped buggies for Dominique Housieaux and Jose Luis Monterde. The Schlesser buggies, which have won this rally five times in all, are ideally suited to the terrain thanks to their powerful engines, agile two-wheel drive transmission and BFGoodrich Baja T/A tyres.
Christian Lavieille, who came second in 2007, will also be hunting for victory with his Nissan Dessoude/BFGoodrich prototype, as will BMW/BFGoodrich drivers Paulo Nobre and Orlando Terranova, although a total list of perhaps ten drivers can seriously hope to take the spoils when the Rallye de Tunisie ends on the island of Djerba on May 3.
Before then, they will have had to contest some of North Africa's finest cross-country rally stages, including certain new tests in Libya and over the Oubari Desert. The menu will include a little bit of everything, from dunes and navigational sections to mountain tracks, making a total route of 4,123km across a magnificent variety of landscapes and terrains.
"This is an event that BFGoodrich has won several times in the past and it is the only round of the 2008 FIA World Cup that takes place on the continent of Africa," points out BFGoodrich Rally-Raid Technician Dominique Bravy. "We don't expect to encounter any particular problems and the Rock T/A, which is the tyre that has been chosen by the majority of the car runners, is a largely tried and tested product. It will still be important, though, for the drivers to ensure that their tyres are always correctly inflated for the sandy and rockier sections."