SS2 and SS3 “Cantina” 91.08 km each, at Pordenone, Italy
It was very clear for everyone that the Italian Baja was not only a race where the terrain helps the two-wheel drive buggy, but this small race allowed the new 2WD crew, Eugenio Amos and Francois Borsotto, test their communication inside the car before the Silk Way Rally and at the same time, test the 2WD Buggy.
Mission accomplished, the team is well connected and equally with the buggy, which was perfectly prepared by the 2WD from Boz, France.
Regarding the race, this morning, the Italian-French crew marked the 6th best time in the first special. “I know that we’ve gotten the second time, explains Francois Borsotto after controlling his carton, but they made a mistake, and we did not take 1h10’49 but 1h12’59… With this said, Eugenio managed well this trace of this Baja, with its narrow roads and pebbles near the water… A terrain that makes it difficult to maintain a two-wheel drive vehicle and to have fun while driving it.
Besides, while taking over another competitor in the water, some stones broke our windshield. We continued in the second stage, but we had to change it before the third as this is part of the technical rules.
Despite our duties, the crew took the second special with their adrenaline level high…”We were well placed, continues Francois, but some kilometers before the finish, as we were exiting the river, we touched something and had a puncture in the back-right tire. Then we decided to continue like that just until the finish line, but the track started in the river and the tire was broken while we were only one kilometer away in a stony track… So, I got off the car because we were going to break the hood and then, as the tire touched the breaks, it went on fire. I still wonder how the car didn’t entirely burn, it was a miracle! Luckily, some competitors stopped to give us their fire extinguishers, and I threw sand, water… well, we managed to put out the fire and changed the tire, but the buggy didn’t start because of an electrical problem caused by the water that went inside. After fixing it, we made it to the assistance point.”
After this third special epic stage and due to the repairs that are to be done to the buggy, the crew decided to stop the race so that the 2WD team has the time to fix the buggy for the upcoming challenge this summer, the Silk Way Rally from Moscow (Russia) to Xian (China) crossing Kazakhstan.
