24 August 2003 - 12:09 Schlesser's victory for cars, Dabrowski for motorbikes Orient-Cappadoce Rallye: 12-17.08.2003

With only 4 seconds on over 18 hours race, Jean-Louis Schlesser & Jean-Marie Lurquin on their Ford powered buggy drive to victory ahead of Carlos Sousa- Henri Magne (Mitsubishi Strakar). However, the final result on category depends upon the Court of Appeal judgement, after the Mitsubishi Portugal team appeal. This appeal concerns a decision of the Stewards, who rejected the protest of this competitor after the 5th leg.

On motorbikes, the Polish Marek Dabrowski signs his first great international victory ahead of Fransois Flick, from France. Polish biker Jacek Czachor also on the podium.

Trucks. Out of 5 teams, 3 finish: two Russian Kamaz logically ranking ahead of the Man truck driven by the French crew Jacquot-Simonin-Richard.

First leg - Portuguese day

This first leg of the Cappadoccia Rally was dominated by the Portuguese pilots - Carlos Sousa on car and Nuno Santos on motorbike! Both of them are ranking first in the general classification but the pursuers are not far behind...

A 243 km long special stage, quite varied with a very difficult first part for navigation, including "rocky" passages, then a much faster but very dusty second part.

In this first leg Carlos Sousa manages to open the race and never gets lost. The Polish Komornicki blows a wind of panic behind: at 15 km from the start he makes an error and leads a lot of cars on the wrong direction... except Schlesser who finds the right track and can therefore enjoy a cleared way. The French runs very fast until the finish but nevertheless concede 1 min to Sousa.

Bad day for the Protruck. Philippe Gache had a puncture on a rear wheel, and lost 10 mn to change it. Then he makes a spin while crossing a huge puddle at high speed! As for Eric Vigouroux, he gets stucks in the "fech fech" (soft sand) after a hairpin, and is obliged to dig for an hour to emerge for it.

Second day - Schlesser and Flick are catching up

Both winners of this special, Fransois Flick and Jean-Louis Schlesser row stand in different positions in the general classification. The biker stands ahead of his category, while Schlesser remains second behind Carlos Sousa. But the gap between them has reduced to 24 seconds only!

The competitors drive today on a rather long special (317 km) east of the large city of Kayseri. The distance was quite easy in navigation terms and rather fast on the whole including two very sinuous passes which made the average speed rather slow.

As foreseen, the duel Carlos Sousa versus Jean-Louis Schlesser is at the highest. The carmaker and pilot caught back only 40 seconds on Sousa, who has admitted a higher pressure on his opponent. None of them made the slightest navigation error. According to Schlesser, the lack of grip in his 2 wheel drive buggy prevented him for catching up on Sousa.

Despite a puncture, the Polish driver Komornicki arrives 3rd today and settles in the 3rd rank in the overall standing.

Carlos Sousa : " It as been a nice special, quite fast. I was faster than yesterday. We hesitated a little just once. Jean-Louis came back in our dust but in the last pass we managed to lengthen the distance."

Jean-Louis Schlesser : " The slopes up to the passes were too twisted for our buggy. We lacked grip power out of hairpin bents."

Gache in the 4th position. Despite of a power steering problem, the Speedy Protruck caught up to the 4th position. Strugo settles in. The Mercedes ML 430 pilot, from GDC team, dreamed of a 5th rank. He classified there tonight although he took a great care of his car along the rugged parts.

Leg 3 - Dabrowski and Schlesser are new leaders

While the rally gets half race, Marek Dabrowski and Jean-Louis Schlesser are the new leaders now in their respective category. Both competitors went all out for a win in this 3rd special, 307 km long, which took place on fast trails along vast rural plains.

Jean-Louis Schlesser rushes ahead and is never caught up. " It has been a gorgeous special with a series of bents like in the Thousand Lakes Rally. It has been a good day for us."

Taking advantages of the top speed of his buggy, he takes 4 mn over Carlos Sousa, therefore coming back to the 1st place. The Portuguese Mitsubishi driver is a bit disappointed at the finish of this stage : " There was nothing to do against Jean-Louis, the track was all the best for him. The track was far too quick for the Strakar Mitsubishi with its truck streamline."

" In order to catch up speed, Henri and I have closed the air traps on the roof. We saw Schlesser dashing ahead in the distance, his dust got thinner and thinner, and nothing to do !" Third today, the Polish Komornicki deepens this rank in the overall ranking.

Fourth day - Sousa is back at the 1-st place

Great change in the cars order: Schlesser has a punctured tyre, Sousa goes all out and wins the special overtaking with 1'18" advance. Komornicki looses the 3rd place in favour of Vigouroux. On the bikes side, Dabrowski increases the gap over Flick who fell down.

As for this 254 km long special stage, all competitors agreed to considers it the nicest of the rally. Imagine these narrows lanes winding through pine or juniper trees forests up to a long mountain ridge discovering a breathtaking panorama.

Jean-Louis Schlesser feel confident as the leader, as he starts first and suppose no one would overtake. The worst he can imagine is a 2 mn loss. But Carlos Sousa on his Mitsubishi Strakar finally wins the special stage. Schlesser's buggy overheating obliges him to take risks and cut bents. He finally bursts a tyre against a stone. Nothing is over as the distance between the two men is shortly a minute, and there are 450 km special stages to run.

Good bargains today: Eric Vigouroux signs the 3rd time and holds 3rd place : " We didn't make the slightest navigation error while Komornicki and Gache did a few of them. This 3rd place rewards us for our efforts and unluckiness."

Unhappy fellows: French Philippe Gache and Polish Lukasz Komornicki lost their way searching for CP 4. The final result is severe: Gache looses over 50 mn and Komornicki an hour at least.

Philippe Gache said: "I totally got lost. We couldn't find CP 4. We had to drive back up in the mountain, twice times. We gave up in the end. It was a long detour."

Lukasz Komornicki said: "We were behind Gache's Protruck. We trusted his navigation instead of reading ours. We finally got to an enormous crevasse. The track definitely did not lead to CP 4."

Fifth leg - Schlesser's rush

While on the motorbike side both first ranks seem cloted to Dabrowski and Flick, on the car ranking Schlesser took back advantage on Carlos Sousa, catching up 3 minutes and a half in the first special today.

New on the rally, this leg involved 2 special stages today. The first, 303 km long, finished down the famous Ilhara gorges, a highly touristical spot in Cappadocia. The second, very short (4,7 km) traced back on Sunday prologue along the fabulous fairy chimneys national park.

Hot atmosphere at the arrival of the first special where Jean-Louis Schlesser arrives 1st. He complaint about bikers being in his way then about difficulties in overtaking Sousa. The latest, rather disabused, explains that Schlesser doesn't seen to stick to the road book indications all the time... Whatever the truth, it is the Buggy's pilot who signs 1st tonight with 2'33" ahead of the Mitsubishi Strakar.

Hard dispute for the 3rd place. Unlucky the day before, Gache and Komornicki push themselves to the limits with a dogged determination to catch up spare time. Gache's Protruck has a brake problem and the Polish pilot finally ranks 3rd in the first special.

Henry de Roissard and Elodie Metge rolled over 10 km about from the finish of the 1st special. No injury for our most sympathetic crew, and the mechanics work hard tonight in order to repair the body of the Nissan. They expect to continue tomorrow.

Bad day for "Jipe" Strugo. A rear back suspension broken ball-joint sticks him for over 2 hours on the track side. The most important now for the leader – single engaged – in the Production category is to finish the race because there are important points to get for the Cross-country World Cup.

Final day of Orient-Cappadoce Rallye

Thrilling suspense at the finish of the last special where the last 2 or 3 km could be seen. Carlos Sousa's Mitsubishi is the first to appear, followed 30 seconds later by Jean-Louis Schlesser's blue buggy. Sousa explains: " Jean-Louis slightly got lost after a fork, we were in his dust and immediately understood where the right track was. We found a gap and went all out for a win."

The Portuguese pilot ranks 1st in the stage and catches up 2'29" on his rival. Not enough to takes the lead: the gap this morning being 2'33"...

Jean-Louis Schlesser asserts himself with 4 seconds : " It's the slightest gap I ever got in all my cross-country career! It was really tough in the last kilometres. I have to congratulated Rene Metge, as usual, for his fabulous race traced as always in fantastic landscapes."

Komornicki is 3rd. The Orlen team Polish driver will climb the 3rd step on the podium. "I didn't take any risk as I saw Vigouroux running off road." Hit goal for Komornicki who takes the 3rd rank in the World Cup temporary classification.

Gache is fortunate. Despite a great fear today – a back arm lever broken 10 km from the finish – Philippe Gache holds the 4th rank in the overall standing. Most encouraging result for this previous circuit driver, coming up to cross- country event.

Unfortunate Vigouroux. Soon after start, due to a slight front wheel shock, he can't avoid running off the track. He roll over at low speed. Sadly enough, a wishbone is broken and he as to come directly to the arrival park, gaining a heavy penalty ranking him back to the 14th place.

Quite unusual in the discipline, all cars are classified, no retirement for any pilot. Proving a good liability in all competitors material and the running easiness of the specials.

Press release

Provisional ranking - FIA Cross Country World Cup
(after Rallye d'Orient Cappadoce) :

1. Jean-Louis Schlesser (F) 114 pts
2. Carlos Sousa (P) 110 pts
3. Lukasz Komornicki (PL) 54 pts
4. Jean-Pierre Strugo (F) 51 pts
5. Giniel de Villiers (ZA) 45 pts
6. Mikki Biasion (I) 33 pts
7. Hiroshi Masuoka (J) 30 pts
ex. Luc Alphand (F) 30 pts
etc...