Dakar : Team Nissan Aventure - Leg 5
Benoît Rousselot and Sylvain Poncet are adhering to their game plan perfectly. A ‘quiet` day, on a rough track, where is would have been totally pointless to gamble away their chances. A serene Benoît Rousselot will be heading into Mauritania tomorrow, for the first long dune stage. Team Nissan Aventure is doing OK...
Between Ouarzazate and Tan Tan, a very rough stage lay in wait for the competitors. A few fast sections, but mainly a rocky track, quite hard on the cars. The sort of stage where you can easily lose everything.
But Benoît Rousselot did not start off this stage with all fires blazing, quite to the contrary. Calm and tranquil, he managed his day sensibly, and this evening, he is still in the lead of the Production category.

« Today, we respected our game plan perfectly. We wanted to take care both of our physical condition, and the vehicle. The aim was to leave Morocco with a fresh car, in perfect condition. So we drove ‘cool`, without taking any risks, without hassling other vehicles. Simon Jean-Joseph, one of our rivals in this category, took six minutes from us, but I`m sure he took a lot of risks. But that was his choice...

We enjoyed ourselves less on this stage than on any of the others. We found ourselves in a little train, because of the dust which prevented us from overtaking. I looked after the gearbox and the transmission by running under powered. The proof is that we used the minimum amount of fuel. The aim was to look after the car.

This evening, we feel we have done a good job, which is very pleasing, and which allows us to remain calm and serene. Reality has overtaken everything we imagined at the start. But we are not in Dakar yet…»

Tomorrow, Team Nissan Aventure will venture into Mauritania. A new page of the 28th edition of the Dakar will be turned, and the competitors will face the first large dunes.


Tags: nissan-aventure, dakar, leg-five, benoit-rousselot, sylvain-poncet, t2,