2024 Africa Eco Race: Apache, Aprilia conquer AER

Gautier Paulin is relatively new to rally raid, but he is already a winner. Although not as flashy as his team-mate and World Rally Championship driver Pierre-Louis Loubet, he was the overall leader among four-wheelers for all but the opening stage en route to winning the 2024 Africa Eco Race.

Paulin, a five-time Motocross des Nations champion and FIM Motocross World Championship alumnus, was running his maiden rally raid in the AER, which follows the original Dakar Rally route from Europe to Dakar, Senegal. He and Loubet were racing the Apache APH-01, a hybrid SSV that uses both electric and internal combusion engines, in just its second race. Although the 6,000-kilometre Africa Eco Race was much longer than the Baja Portalegre 500 where the Apache made its début, Paulin and Loubet put on a clinic as they combined to win seven stages.

Although Loubet had five victories, a series of mechanical issues in Stage #3 knocked him to the bottom of the T3 category where he eventually finished eleventh overall and last in his class. Loubet is also a newcomer to the discipline.

With Loubet out of the picture, Paulin finished fifth in the opening stage before passing Carlos Vento for the lead the following day and never looking back. His co-driver Rémi Boulanger originally had plans of racing the 2024 Dakar Rally before joining Apache for the “real” Dakar; brother Édouard Boulanger is currently competing in the Dakar in Saudi Arabia as the navigator for Stéphane Peterhansel.

“Rémi, you’re an experienced guy, but Gautier, honestly, I didn’t think you were going to do so well,” Peterhansel remarked. “You had a perfect race, became a true rally raid driver, and I hope in any case that you both had a lot of fun. Congratulations again to you both on a great result. I’m really proud. That’s cool.”

Pascal Feryn won the final two stages to place runner-up to Paulin; his Feryn Dakar Sport team-mate Koen Wauters claimed Stage #5, on the same day that his former Dakar navigator Jackie Loomans passed away at the age of 71. Wauters, a musician, withdrew from the race two days later to perform with De Vrienden van Amstel in the Netherlands. The team would probably be competing at the Dakar Rally, which began a week after the Africa Eco Race, had they not been barred from the 2023 edition by the FIA.

Tomáš Tomeček notched his third win in the Truck class.

82-year-old Yoshimasa Sugawara, who holds the record for most Dakar Rallies started with thirty-six from 1983 to 2019, finished twenty-first overall in a Suzuki Jimny. He did not have any mechanics on his team, prompting him and co-driver Naoko Roquet to make repairs themselves.

“I’m glad I was able to reach the goal safely,” said Sugawara. “I was in great shape. I was the only one to race without a mechanic. It was truly an ‘eco race.’

“We are delighted that the Jimny, a kei car that is the pride of Japan, was able to completely complete the race from the start, passing through all the sand dunes.”

On the two-wheel side, Jacopo Cerutti led the overall from start to finish, but he also had to fend off the decorated Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team duo of Alessandro Botturi and Pol Tarrés for the win. Cerutti and his Aprilia Tuareg faced margins as close as one minute following Stage #7 before Botturi received a six-minute penalty two days later that dropped him from the stage win to third.

Aprilia Racing, more known for their MotoGP programme, founded a rally raid division in 2023 in partnership with GCorse. The factory team enjoyed success in their first year by winning the Italian Motorally Championship followed by podiuming at the Transanatolia Rally in Turkey before taking on the AER in its first desert race.

“In very little time, we reached incredible milestones and I honestly did not think that we would manage to be as ready as we were at the start of this event,” commented Cerutti. “However, I knew that the factory Tuareg already provided us with an outstanding starting base and then the rest is down to the great job the entire team did over the past few months.

“I certainly didn’t expect to win. Maybe starting the race without the pressure of being one of the favourites was a good thing and a bit of good luck also helped, which is never a bad thing because in an African raid, the unexpected is always just around the corner, but instead, everything seemed to go smoothly.”

Like how Aprilia is more savvy on pavement but has a burgeoning rally arm, Harley-Davidson successfully reached the finish with Joan Pedrero on his Pan America 1250. He was the only competitor in the 1000cc class.

While the bike class was mainly dominated by Cerutti and the Yamahas, the paraplegic Nicola Dutto won the final stage in the run to Lac Rose in Dakar. The effort came two months after he finished the second longest Baja 1000 course in history, with his shadow riders Rubén Saldaña Goñi and Julián Villarrubia Garcia bringing him to the finish.

Marco Aurelio Fontana, a former Olympic bronze medalist in cross-country mountain biking, finished sixth. He was the highest running Honda bike.

Amine Echiguer, winner of the 2022 World Rally-Raid Championship in Rally3, retired from his AER début after his rear wheel and shock broke during Stage #3. He had been leading the Over 450cc category prior to his exit. Guillaume Borne, another competitor with W2RC experience, also bowed out.

“The majority of the bikes here are real Rally bikes, not DIY enduros like mine so no one to bother us,” Echiguer explained.

The Africa Eco Race was moved from its original March 2023 slot to January 2024 due to heavy flooding in Dakar.

Stage winners

Stage	Date	Route	Auto/Truck Winner	Time	Bike Winner	Time
Stage #1	2 January	Nador → Boudenib	Carlos Vento	1:58:17	Jacopo Cerutti	1:54:09
Stage #2	3 January	Boudenib → M’Hamid	Pierre-Louis Loubet	4:41:35	Jacopo Cerutti	4:11:50
Stage #3	4 January	M’Hamid → Oued Draa	Gautier Paulin	6:06:08	Alessandro Botturi	5:37:23
Stage #4	5 January	Oued Draa → Fort Chacal	Pierre-Louis Loubet	5:27:25	Jacopo Cerutti	5:00:40
Stage #5	6 January	Fort Chacal → Dakhla	Koen Wauters	3:31:53	Alessandro Botturi	3:31:53
Stage #6	8 January	Dakhla → Chami	Pierre-Louis Loubet	1:46:21	Pol Tarrés	1:51:53
Stage #7	9 January	Chami → Chami	Pierre-Louis Loubet	4:42:08	Alessandro Botturi	4:35:20
Stage #8	10 January	Chami → Amojjar	Jorge Brandao	4:25:15	Pol Tarrés	4:12:50
Stage #9	11 January	Amojjar → Amojjar	Pierre-Louis Loubet	4:40:59	Jacopo Cerutti	4:27:14
Stage #10	12 January	Amojjar → Akjoujt	Gautier Paulin	1:50:46	Alessandro Botturi	1:43:45
Stage #11	13 January	Akjoujt → Boubene	Pascal Feryn	2:16:04	Pol Tarrés	2:15:15
Stage #12	14 January	Boubene → Dakar	Pascal Feryn	12:23	Nicola Dutto	16:09

2024 Africa Eco Race results

Auto/Truck

Finish	Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Class	Class Finish	Time	Margin
1	260	Gautier Paulin	Rémi Boulanger	Apache Automotive	T3	1	43:32:00	Leader
2	210	Pascal Feryn	Kurt Keysers	Feryn Dakar Sport	T1	1	47:17:08	+ 3:45:08
3	256	Carlos Vento	Carlos Ruiz Moreno	Old Friends Rally Team	T4	1	48:41:09	+ 5:09:09
4	400	Tomáš Tomeček		Promet Czechoslovak Group Team	T5	1	49:45:56	+ 6:13:56
5	401	Aad Van Velsen	Michel Van Velsen, Marco Siemons	Van Velsen Rally Sport	T5	2	52:02:05	+ 8:30:05
6	254	Frederic Henricy	Eric Bersey	AT4R	SSV	1	52:22:11	+ 8:50:11
7	207	Teun Stam	René Bargeman	Schijf Rally	T1	2	52:51:18	+ 9:19:18
8	403	Cédric Feryn	Bjorn Burgelman, Tom De Leeuw	Feryn Dakar Sport	T5	3	57:21:21	+ 13:49:21
9	252	Rui Oliveira	Bernardo Oliveira	Old Friends Rally Team	T3	2	57:34:37	+ 14:02:37
10	257	Jorge Brandao	Ricardo Sousa	Old Friends Rally Team	T3	3	58:54:35	+ 15:22:35
11	261	Pierre-Louis Loubet	François Borsotto	Apache Automotive	T3	4	58:59:58	+ 21:29:21
12	200	Imre Varga	Toma József	Varga Racing Team	T1	3	65:01:21	+ 28:16:02
13	259	Souad Mouktadiri	Frederic Villers d’Arbouet	Souad	T4	2	71:48:02	+ 29:20:26
14	435	Giulio Verzeletti	Giuseppa Fortuna	Orobica Raid	T5	4	72:52:26	+ 41:51:42
15	253	Heathcliff Zingraf	Gregory Revest	Casteu Trophy	T4	3	85:23:42	+ 44:18:47
16	255	Philippe Champigne	Bruno Robin	Team Adventure 79	SSV	2	87:50:47	+ 44:18:47
17	205	Stefano Rossi	Jacopo Casini	Rossi 4×4 ASD	Experimental	1	89:59:14	+ 46:27:14
18	209	Eric Coquide	Gregoire Coquide	Renault Trucks Rallye Raid	Open	1	98:36:18	+ 55:04:18
19	409	Franck Coquide	Jean-François Delaval, Daniel Penkalla	Renault Trucks Rallye Raid	T5	5	103:44:04	+ 60:12:04
20	433	Antonio Cabini	Carlo Cabini, Raffaella Cabini	Orobica Raid	T5	6	107:38:03	+ 64:06:03
21	208	Yoshimasa Sugawara	Naoko Roquet	Equipe Sugawara	Open	2	115:53:12	+ 72:21:12
22	204	Bernard Andriuex	Jean-Pierre Armandet	TTP	Open	3	173:41:00	+ 130:09:00
DNF	206	Willem Alexander Telle	Servaas Van Herk	WUTA Rallysport	Open	N/A	DNF	N/A
DNF	220	Koen Wauters	Kurt Keysers	Feryn Dakar Team	T1	N/A	DNF	N/A
DNF	250	Eric Schiano	Camile Pourchier	Harmat Team Racing	T3	N/A	DNF	N/A

Moto

Finish	Number	Rider	Team	Class	Class Finish	Time	Margin
1	111	Jacopo Cerutti	Aprilia Racing GCorse	700cc	1	39:52:49	Leader
2	103	Alessandro Botturi	Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team	700cc	2	39:59:27	+ 6:38
3	113	Pol Tarrés	Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team	700cc	3	40:17:58	+ 25:09
4	131	Alexandre Vaudan	Casteu Trophy	Under 450cc	1	44:22:39	+ 4:29:50
5	136	Attilo Fert	France Road Book	Under 450cc	2	45:27:52	+ 5:35:03
6	144	Marco Aurelio Fontana	RS Moto	Under 450cc	3	45:47:08	+ 5:54:19
7	181	Marco Menichini	Solarys Racing	Under 450cc	4	45:55:33	+ 6:02:44
8	122	Francesco Montanari	Aprilia Racing GCorse	700cc	4	47:46:06	+ 7:53:17
9	124	Nicolas Charlier	Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team	700cc	5	47:48:57	+ 7:56:08
10	128	Nicola Quinto	Jacque de Molay	Under 450cc	5	48:15:33	+ 8:22:44
11	143	Kevin Durand	RS Moto	Under 450cc	6	50:28:02	+ 10:35:13
12	146	Jan Hendrik Erbach	Solarys Racing	Under 450cc	7	51:20:47	+ 11:27:58
13	148	Patrick Carillon	SARL Hôtel des Sources	Under 450cc	8	51:29:34	+ 11:36:45
14	145	Nuno Silva	Old Friends Rally Team	Under 450cc	9	53:16:03	+ 13:23:14
15	140	Antoine Detourbet	Antoine Detourbet	Under 450cc	10	53:24:41	+ 13:31:52
16	115	Angelo Tazzari	Twinsbike Racing Team	700cc	6	54:06:10	+ 14:13:21
17	127	Giovanni Stigliano	JBRally	Over 450cc	1	54:22:50	+ 14:30:01
18	120	Nicolas Bottu	United We Trace	Under 450cc	11	54:54:52	+ 15:02:03
19	186	Richard Skarpaas	A4pluss	Under 450cc	12	55:18:40	+ 15:25:51
20	163	Paolo Caprioni	Team Kapriony	700cc	7	57:21:23	+ 17:28:34
21	174	Francesco Muratori	NSM Racing Team	Under 450cc	13	57:22:07	+ 17:29:18
22	193	Giovanni Gritti	RS Moto	Under 450cc	14	58:36:06	+ 18:43:17
23	141	Alessandro Rigoni	Solarys Racing	Under 450cc	15	59:04:14	+ 19:11:25
24	179	Pierpaolo Vivaldi	Twinsbike Racing Team	Under 450cc	16	64:38:44	+ 24:45:55
25	105	Joan Pedrero	Harley-Davidson	1000cc	1	66:55:56	+ 27:03:07
26	123	Robert Van Olst	Wood BV	Under 450cc	17	67:27:56	+ 27:35:07
27	134	Thierry Costard	LDZ56	Under 450cc	18	67:33:45	+ 27:40:56
28	107	Stefano Chiussi	Offroad Crew	Over 450cc	2	71:26:36	+ 31:33:47
29	157	Vanessa Ruck	The Girl On A Bike	Under 450cc	19	75:53:51	+ 36:01:02
30	137	Nicola Dutto	Offroad Crew	Over 450cc	3	107:15:15	+ 67:22:26
31	139	Rubén Saldaña Goñi	Offroad Crew	Over 450cc	4	107:19:15	+ 67:26:26
32	138	Julián Villarrubia Garcia	Offroad Crew	Over 450cc	5	107:21:30	+ 67:28:41
33	178	Gunter Schmutz	Malle Moto	Under 450cc	20	112:37:35	+ 72:44:46
DNF	114	Alessandro Ruoso	Twinsbike Racing Team	700cc	N/A	DNF	N/A
DNF	119	Pietro Peila Ugo Domenico	Offroad Crew	Under 450cc	N/A	DNF	N/A
DNF	125	Guillaume Borne	Casteu Trophy	Under 450cc	N/A	DNF	N/A
DNF	133	Andrea Gava	NSM Racing Team	Over 450cc	N/A	DNF	N/A
DNF	135	Bruno Arcuri	Orobica Raid	Under 450cc	N/A	DNF	N/A
DNF	142	Francesco Tognato	Team ICE	Under 450cc	N/A	DNF	N/A
DNF	165	Rafael Gomez Cuesta	Offroad Crew	Under 450cc	N/A	DNF	N/A
DNF	171	Massimiliano Guerrini	Solarys Racing	Under 450cc	N/A	DNF	N/A
DNF	177	Ai Tanaka	AI78	Over 450cc	N/A	DNF	N/A
DNF	185	Jochaim Hellstein	A4pluss	Under 450cc	N/A	DNF	N/A
DNF	190	Francesco Puocci	Team Puocci	Open	N/A	DNF	N/A
DNF	195	Timothy Bradshaw	Moto Joe	Open	N/A	DNF	N/A
DNF	196	Amine Echiguer	Amine Echiguer	Over 450cc	N/A	DNF	N/A
DNF	199	Laurent Hellemans	Hellau	Quad	N/A	DNF	N/A