HOME > Latest News > 2022 > Issue #5
Issue #5:January 7, 2022
Stage 4 was held on Wednesday January 5. Heading south from Al Qaisumah to the capital city Riyadh, this was the longest SS (competition stage) covering a staggering distance of 464.76 km. Competing in the production car category, the TLC Land Cruiser 200 cars came in with the following results: Ronald Basso and Jean-Michel Polato in car #245 came in 48th place overall and 1st place in the production car category. In car #242, Akira Miura and Laurent Lichtleuchter safely reached the finish in 52nd place overall and 2nd place in the category. As of today, the cumulative ranking for car #242 is 44th overall and 1st place in the category, and for car #245, 50th overall and 2nd in the category. TLC continues to hold onto their one-two formation in the production car category.
Teams travelled a 99.5 km liaison from Al Qaisumah and started the SS on a plateau. The first half of the stage consisted of hard and high-speed gravel with many tracks marking a vast area. Teams had to proceed carefully in these conditions while staying on CAP (compass directions) as instructed. After this section, sand dunes also appeared several times. Towards the end, teams passed a dried riverbed that the rains had turned into sludge, resulting in a few stuck cars. About 230 km into the stage, car #242 found themselves facing some trouble when their front right wheel suddenly came off. Luckily, they had a spare onboard to replace the broken part to get them through, but they used up about 30-40 minutes.
Meanwhile, car #245 made it all the way to the later stages of the SS without any trouble, but just before the finish they suffered two punctures, one right after the other. These two tire changes resulted in some lost time.
On Thursday January 6, a 350 km loop course will take the teams around the east side of Riyadh.
Miura (driver): For the first half today, I had to fully focus on Laurent’s detailed CAP instructions. It was hard work. Going at high speeds, it can be hard to see some of the tracks, so you always need to remain vigilant.
A quad driver picked up our front wheel when it came off, and when we were going up the sludge at the end of the stage some spectators pulled us up. People around us really helped out today.
Basso (driver): We fought hard on this lengthy SS, and right at the end we had to deal with two punctures in the dark, one after the other. It was disappointing, but I think we were lucky to not experience any other issues.