The Team Nissan France Dessoude Nissan Pathfinder vehicles claimed a fine triple finish today, claiming 4th, 5th and 6th places in today’s special stage, between Ankara and Ürgüp. Benoît Rousselot strengthened his lead in the T2 category, where he is now over 14 minutes ahead.

The second leg of the Rally of the Orient, 500,07 km from Ankara to Urgüp, included a timed stage of 249,500 km. This gave the teams plenty of work, not only the drivers, but most especially the navigators. In the lowlands around the Tuz salt lake, the gravel and dirt tracks gave off plenty of dust. It was necessary to keep on the right heading, with the many changes of direction keeping the navigators on their toes!

As on the previous leg, Benoît Rousselot put in a fine performance, setting a fighting pace, which was still suitable to take care of his Nissan and to allow his new co-driver, Fabian Lurquin, to position himself according to the road book. «We got lost a couple of times, but overall we drove well, finding the best compromise over this sort of terrain. » Fourth fastest in the special stage, which was won by Jean-Louis Schlesser ahead of Bruno Saby and Giniel de Villiers, Benoît Rousselot was quite proud as he reached the finish line. «Our Nissan was very competitive vertically (over the bumps). It will be important to check the drive-train, as I went over two bumps rather hard. The balance of the car changed slightly, which I noticed around 15 km from the end.” With a solid lead in the ‘Production’ category, Benoît and Fabian are currently fourth overall this evening, after the second out of seven legs.

They were soon followed across the line by the Nissan Pathfinder (T1) of Isabelle Patissier and Thierry Delli Zotti «It was a difficult stage with a lot of villages to cross. Coming out of the villages, the tracks went off in all directions, and we did not have the headings systematically marked !” she said, having finished fifth in the stage. As far as the driving was concerned, she was satisfied : “The stage was sufficiently varied to allow me to express myself. As far as Thierry was concerned, there were plenty of opportunities for mistakes in the various changes of direction, but he did a great job. The Nissan was sliding a lot at the rear, I felt as if I was water-skiing at times !”

Sixth overall behind Serge Jordan (also with a Nissan Pathfinder), the mountaineering champion was satisfied with her day’s work, as was André Dessoude. «Iam delighted with the start of this rally. The Nissan cars were 4th,5thand 6thin this special stage. We have to keep up this pace until the end of the rally. “

The third leg, between Urgüp in Cappadocia and Sivas, will be partly mountainous. With a total distance of 431.12 km, the special stage will be 299.13 km long, with both fast and twisty sections. Cairns will mark out the route in some places, with crevasses towards the end of the route.