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Issue #9:January 13, 2025
Stage 7 on January 12th was a loop course in the southwest of Al Duwadimi, with a 419 km SS (Special Stage).
After facing troubles during the stage on the 11th, the TLC Land Cruiser 300s arrived at the bivouac significantly delayed, with car #501 arriving at 12:30 am and car #500 at around 2 am. Thanks to the mechanics, who worked hard all night, they managed to address the issues and perform inspections by the 7:30 am departure time, and were able to take on the day's competition.
In Stage 7, bikes and cars had completely different routes. The car course featured sandy terrain and dunes in the first half, followed by sandy, rock-lined tracks and many rocky, bumpy roads; it was a stage with very diverse terrain.
TLC's two cars ran smoothly, determined to make up for the previous day's setbacks. Akira Miura and Jean-Michel Polato in car #500 had a closed valve on their air tank, which is used to adjust tire pressure, forcing them to run with lower pressure throughout the stage (lower pressure is suited to sand). As a result, they were extra careful on rocky sections, finishing without any punctures or getting stuck, achieving 107th overall in the Car category and 1st in the Production Car (Stock) category.
Shortly after the start, Ronald Basso and Jean-Pierre Garcin in car #501 got stuck on a rock and needed about 30 minutes to free themselves. They then picked up the pace but suffered successive punctures on both the front and rear right tires in rocky areas. They finished 120th overall in the Car category with a time gap of 32 minutes and 38 seconds from car #500, placing them 2nd in the same category.
As a result, the cumulative rankings are 86th overall for car #501 and 93rd overall for car #500 in the Car category; TLC is holding on to their one-two position in the Production Car category. The time difference between the two cars is 1 hour, 44 minutes, and 38 seconds.
Stage 8 on January 13th is scheduled to be a 488 km competition heading towards Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.
Driver Miura: Yesterday was tough, but today we were able to finish without major troubles, which is great. The air tank valve is usually opened by the mechanics, but they had many other matters to deal with and were too busy.
Driver Basso: Shortly after starting, we got stuck on a rock and couldn't move. It took about 30 minutes to get free by pulling and stacking stones underneath. After that, we had two punctures, but I'm relieved we made it to the finish.