The lads and lasses at the Africa Eco Race have uploaded their PR for Day 3, but no video. Sigh. Well, you can see their official news release below, and underneath that, the day’s finisher grid. Instead, check out the race’s live-stream above!

AFRICA ECO RACE: THE RACE IS WELL UNDERWAY

With 8 degrees on the thermometer, the temperature was already much milder on the morning of Thursday January 4 at the start of the Oued Draa bivouac, not far from Mahmid, the Mecca of Rally Raids in Morocco. All the conditions were in place for a great day’s racing.

Alessandro BOTTURI was all smiles at the finish of the 463km special stage between Mahmid and Assa. Riding his Yamaha 700 Ténéré, the two-time winner of the event had won the stage and taken 2nd place overall from Pol TARRES, the second official rider for the blues. It was a great result for the jovial Italian, who beat his team-mate by 00:01:29 in the selective sector and by 00:00:35 in the provisional standings:

“The stage was very beautiful, with some pretty good dunes, but the navigation wasn’t easy. From kilometer 210, we caught up with CERUTTI and rode with him. Yesterday I thought the pace was high and I wondered if I was old enough to compete with the two furious riders at the front. Today was even worse and yet I rode with them without any problems. We’ll see what happens next.

Finishing 3rd today at 00:02:18, Jacopo CERUTTI remains leader of the bike classification aboard his APRILIA Touareg 660 at 00:06:20.

The Italian had managed to hold onto the lead until the halfway point of the race, but was caught out by a small navigation error. It took more than 30 minutes for the first 450s to arrive, including the HONDA of Italian Giovanni GRITTI, the KTM of Swiss rider Alexandre VAUDAN and the HUSQVARNA of Guillaume BORNE. All three, separated by less than two minutes, are entered in the ROOKIE RIDER BY ACERBIS, which rewards the best riders under 35 who have never taken part in a major off-road rally. Last but not least, Italian Andrea GAVA put in a great performance, setting a magnificent 7th fastest time on his BETA from 33rd position.

In the Car/SSV/Truck category, it was once again an APACHE SSV that won this 3rd stage. This time, it was the car of Gautier PAULIN and Remi BOULANGER, ahead of the CAM AM of Heatcliff ZINGRAF and Gregory REVEST for 00:01:17 and the POLARIS of Éric SCHIANO and Camille POURCHIER, who recovered well from their problems at the start of the event.

Overall, the former Motocross champion maintains his lead on four wheels with a lead of just 00:03:35 over ZINGRAF. The battle rages on, with the POLARIS of Frédéric HENRICY and Éric BERSEY trailing behind at 01:17:23.

As for the cars, the TOYOTA of Belgian drivers Pascal FERYN and Kurt KEYSERS finished 9th overall at 01:14:45, ahead of the other 4X4 of the FERYN DAKAR TEAM of Koen WAUTERS and Kris VEN DER STEEN at just under 15 minutes. In the provisional general standings, FEYRIN leads the category ahead of WAUTERS.

In the truck category, the Czech Tomas TOMECEK finished 11th in this 3rd special stage and remains the leader of the desert mamoths.

In the Classic race, after this second stage, Yves LOUBET, the event’s Sporting Director, who was instrumental in the return of this historic category to the AFRICA ECO RACE, commented on the start of the race with his legendary enthusiasm and outspokenness:

“This Classic category in Africa, in the historic footsteps of the original event with a finish at Lac Rose, is a blessing for the discipline. The playing field is fantastic and Alain LOPEZ, who mapped out the route and determined the zones and average speeds imposed, has done an extraordinary job. The participants are in for a treat and the competition is going to be very competitive. The Classic race has all the safety, logistical and media resources that the Rally has to offer. It’s a race that’s just waiting to grow and, in time, it could become the absolute benchmark for the discipline.

Tomorrow, Friday January 5, another big stage awaits the participants, with 467km of selective sector and just 5km of liaison between Oued Draa and Fort Chacal.

And here are the stats on the day’s moto category. Check out Juan Pedrero Garcia’s position, on that Harley-Davidson Pan America!

Pos	pgr	N°	Nat.	Pilotes	Team	Marque	Grp/Pos	Cl/Pos	Scratch	Diff 1er	Péna
1	0	111		CERUTTI Jacopo	APRILIA RACING GCORSE		/	+700M / 1	11:47:19		00h00
2	+1	103		BOTTURI Alessandro	YAMAHA TENERE WORLD RAID TEAM		/	+700M / 2	11:53:39	00:06:20
3	-1	113		TARRES Pol	YAMAHA TENERE WORLD RAID TEAM		/	+700M / 3	11:54:14	00:06:55	00h00
4	+1	193		GRITTI Giovanni	RSMOTO RACING TEAM HONDA OIL		/	450 / 1	13:19:32	01:32:13
5	-1	125		BORNE Guillaume	CASTEU TROPHY		/	450 / 2	13:19:36	01:32:17	00h06
6	0	131		VAUDAN Alexandre	CASTEU TROPHY		/	450 / 3	13:34:00	01:46:41	00h15
7	+3	136		FERT Attilio	FRANCE ROAD BOOK		/	450 / 4	14:16:37	02:29:18
8	+4	122		MONTANARI Francesco	APRILIA RACING GCORSE		/	+700M / 4	14:28:28	02:41:09	00h15
9	-2	124		CHARLIER Nicolas	YAMAHA TENERE WORLD RAID TEAM		/	+700M / 5	14:31:24	02:44:05	00h01
10	+4	144		FONTANA Marco Aurelio	HONDA GENUINE OIL		/	450 / 5	14:38:40	02:51:21
11	+8	114		RUOSO Alessandro	TWINSBIKE RACING TEAM		/	+700M / 6	14:55:45	03:08:26
12	-3	128		QUINTO Nicola	JACQUE DE MOLAY		/	450 / 6	14:56:33	03:09:14	00h15
13	0	171		GUERRINI Massimiliano	SOLARYS RACING		/	450 / 7	15:03:57	03:16:38	00h35
14	-3	181		MENICHINI Marco	SOLARYS RACING		/	450 / 8	15:05:03	03:17:44	00h30
15	-7	105		PEDRERO GARCIA Juan	HARLEY DAVIDSON		/	1000M / 1	15:19:15	03:31:56
16	+2	140		DETOURBET Antoine	ANTOINE DETOURBET		/	450 / 9	15:44:21	03:57:02	00h15
17	0	143		DURAND Kevin	RS MOTO		/	450 / 10	15:48:13	04:00:54
18	+2	107		CHIUSSI Stefano	OFFROAD CREW		/	+450 / 1	15:52:26	04:05:07
19	-3	115		TAZZARI Angelo	TWINSBIKE RACING TEAM		/	+700M / 7	15:54:19	04:07:00	00h15
20	+3	146		ERBACH Jan Hendrik	SOLARYS RACING		/	450 / 11	16:26:11	04:38:52
21	+1	127		STIGLIANO Giovanni	JBRALLY ASD		/	+450 / 2	16:28:17	04:40:58
22	+11	133		GAVA Andrea	NSM RACING TEAM		/	+450 / 3	16:38:34	04:51:15	00h15
23	+2	119		PEILA UGO DOMENICO Pietro	OFFROAD CREW		/	450 / 12	16:48:31	05:01:12	00h22
24	-3	145		SILVA Nuno	OLD FRIENS RALLY TEAM		/	450 / 13	16:52:51	05:05:32	00h46
25	+1	148		CARILLON Patrice	SARL HOTEL DES SOURCES		/	450 / 14	17:00:06	05:12:47
26	+2	134		COSTARD Thierry	LDZ56		/	450 / 15	17:05:43	05:18:24	00h02
27	+4	120		BOTTU Nicolas	UNITED WE TRACE		/	450 / 16	18:06:25	06:19:06	00h47
28	-1	139		SALDANA GONI Ruben	OFFROAD CREW		/	+450 / 4	18:42:33	06:55:14
29	+1	138		VILLARRUBIA GARCIA Julian	OFFROAD CREW		/	+450 / 5	18:42:43	06:55:24
30	-1	137		DUTTO Nicola	OFFROAD CREW		/	+450 / 6	18:43:34	06:56:15
31	+3	163		CAPRIONI Paolo	TEAM KAPRIONY		/	+700M / 8	18:48:41	07:01:22	00h37
32	+5	186		SKARPAAS Richard	A4PLUSS		/	450 / 17	20:26:25	08:39:06	00h15
33	-1	141		RIGONI Alessandro	SOLARYS RACING		/	450 / 18	20:33:59	08:46:40	00h15
34	+4	185		HELLSTEN Joachim	A4PLUSS		/	450 / 19	20:43:22	08:56:03	00h30
35	+4	123		VAN OLST Robert	WOOD BV		/	450 / 20	20:56:31	09:09:12	00h17
36	-1	174		MURATORI Francesco	NSM RACING TEAM		/	450 / 21	21:30:44	09:43:25	00h02
37	+3	157		RUCK Vanessa	THE GIRL ON A BIKE		/	450 / 22	25:16:50	13:29:31	02h00
38	+4	178		SCHMUTZ Gunter	MALE MOTO		/	450 / 23	26:01:33	14:14:14	02h15
39	0	177		TANAKA Ai	AI78		/	+450 / 7	32:13:29	20:26:10	16h30