VICTORY over the first section for GINIEL DE VILLIERS AND THE NISSAN PICKUP !
author: Leon Botha
The 22nd Rally of Tunisia got underway at midday on Saturday, starting from Toulon, with a 2-km prologue laid out on the old naval yard of La Seyne-sur-Mer.
On the narrow, winding route, the surprise leader (who was surprised?) was the Nissan Pickup driven by popular South-African driver Giniel De Villiers. Giniel and his co-driver, Tina Thörner from Sweden, finished ahead of the two Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution cars, as well as the Buggy-Ford.
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Leon Botha
Giniel de Villiers and Nissan Off-roading in the Harbour
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Fifth in the overall classification of the 2003 Dakar, the South-African Champion was delighted with his performance and was smiling when he boarded the ship for Tunis.
« On this route, I did not think that we could surprise our rivals. But the car is working wonderfully well. This is the Pickup which Ari Vatanen used during the Dakar. I must say that he has run it in well! Now I have to start the proceedings in Africa. Tina and I will now take advantage of the 20-hour crossing to go over the route notes. It will be absolutely indispensable, for the first real stage of the event between Oued Shili and Sabria on Monday, as there will be no-one to show us the way… »
Giniel and Tina will be the first to head off on Tunisian soil. Not necessarily an advantage on this sort of terrain. The whole team is extremely motivated, and once more, it is certain that the Nissan Pickup will show all its potential.
• Classification
Pos N° Crew Nat Make Gr/Cla Time Gap
1 210 DE VILLIERS-THORNER AFS NISSAN 2/1 1.1/1 01'52''14 00'00''00
2 201 PETERHANSEL-COTTRET FRA MITSUBISHI 2/2 1.1/2 01'52''67 00'00''53
3 207 BIASION-SIVIERO ITA MITSUBISHI 2/3 1.1/3 01'54''14 00'02''00
4 200 SCHLESSER-LURQUIN FRA SCHLESSER 2/4 2.1/1 01'55''85 00'03''71
5 230 MISSLIN-POLATO FRA MITSUBISHI 2/5 1.1/4 01'57''64 00'05''50
6 212 KOMORNICKI-MARTON POL MITSUBISHI 2/6 1.1/5 01'59''58 00'07''44
7 218 HOUSIEAUX-HOUSIEAUX FRA NISSAN 2/7 1.1/6 02'00''07 00'07''93
8 202 MONTERDE-TORNABELL ESP MITSUBISHI 2/8 1.2/1 02'00''08 00'07''94
9 229 MAYER-SCHULZ ALL MITSUBISHI 2/9 1.2/2 02'03''24 00'11''10
10 203 MAGNALDI-BORSOTTO FRA HONDA 2/10 2.1/2 02'03''31 00'11''17
11 208 SZALAY-LAKLOTH HON CHEVROLET 2/11 1.1/7 02'04''42 00'12''28
12 219 GUINOT-KROISS FRA MITSUBISHI 2/12 1.1/8 02'05''22 00'13''08
13 220 ANDRETTA-SIMONI ITA CHRYSLER 1/1 .1/1 02'05''35 00'13''21
14 214 GACHE-GAUTHIER RTC FORD 2/13 2.1/3 02'05''82 00'13''68
15 301 BROUSSE-VOISIN FRA NISSAN 2/14 1.1/9 02'05''92 00'13''78
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