The Rallye des Pharaons (French for "Pharaohs Rally") was a rally-raid event that took place in Egypt between 1982 and 2015. Cairo was both the starting and finishing point at the foot of the pyramids of Giza, and the rally covered roughly around 3,100 kilometres (1,900 mi). It was similar in format to the Dakar Rally in that it took place in desert conditions and cars, trucks, and motorcycles were all permitted to compete.

History

The first Pharaohs Rally was held in 1982 from an idea of Jean-Claude Morellet. In 1998 the organization was taken over by JVD, a company managed by Jacky Ickx, Vincenzo Lancia and Daniele Cotto, and the name was changed to Pharaons International Cross Country Rally.

The competition is valid for the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship since 2000 and for the FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup since 2005.

Tragedy struck on September 29, 2004, when three-time Dakar Rally winner Richard Sainct was killed when his motorcycle ran off the course.[1][2] KTM, who Sainct rode for, pulled all other factory racers from the rest of the rally in respect for Sainct.

2015 marked the last year that the event was run due to difficulties in receiving support from the FIA and the Egyptian government.[3] Rally des Pharaons restarted in 1998 after it wasn't held for 1 year in 1997 under the name of Rally of Egypt with joint organisation of Siag Travel with JVD and has stayed with this name in 1998-1999-2001-2002, and then JVD changed the name to Rally des Pharaons crosscountry.

Winners

Year Cars (driver / co-driver) Motorcycles Trucks (driver / co-driver) Quads
1982 France André Trossat / Eric Briavoine Italy Edi Orioli – –
1983 France Jean-Claude Briavoine / Catherine Plessis France Patrick Drobecq – –
1984 France Christian Avril / Gérard Troublé Belgium Gaston Rahier – –
1985 Qatar Saeed Al-Hajiri / United Kingdom John Spiller Belgium Gaston Rahier Czech Republic Kovář / Brzobohatý / Switzerland Héritier –
1986 Spain Miguel Prieto / Ramon Termens Italy Franco Picco Switzerland Bonvin / Jacquerod / Missilliez –
1987 Finland Ari Vatanen / Sweden Bruno Berglund Italy Alessandro De Petri France Groine / Ferri –
1988 Finland Ari Vatanen / Sweden Bruno Berglund Belgium Gaston Rahier Italy Francesco Perlini / G. Belotti / Claudio Vinante –
1989 Finland Ari Vatanen / Sweden Bruno Berglund Italy Alessandro De Petri Not held –
1990 France Hubert Auriol / Philippe Monnet Italy Alessandro De Petri France Gueguen / Damereu –
1991 Finland Ari Vatanen / Sweden Bruno Berglund United States Danny LaPorte France Pelichet / Pelichet / Musitelli –
1992 France Jean-Louis Schlesser Italy Franco Picco Italy Maurizio Traglio / Del Prete –
1993 Finland Timo Salonen / United Kingdom Fred Gallagher Italy Edi Orioli Italy Maurizio Traglio / Pio –
1994 France Jean-Louis Schlesser Austria Heinz Kinigadner – –
1995-97 Not held
1998 Italy Giorgio Beccaris / Roberto Ferrari Italy Fabrizio Meoni – –
1999 Belgium Gerard Marcy / Jean-Paul Cottret Italy Fabrizio Meoni – –
2000 Belgium Grégoire De Mévius / France Alain Guehennec Italy Fabrizio Meoni – –
2001 Spain José Luis Monterde / Rafael Tornabell Italy Fabrizio Meoni Italy Gilberto Sandretto / Corrado Pattono –
2002 Hungary Balázs Szalay / Aladár Laklóth France Richard Sainct Italy Giuseppe Panseri / Giacomo Vismara / Marco Sangalli –
2003 France Yves Loubet / Jacky Dubois Spain Nani Roma Japan Teruhito Sugawara / Masahiro Saiki –
2004 Belgium Alain De Mevius / France Emmanuel Eggermont Norway Pål Anders Ullevålseter Italy Giacomo Vismara / Mario Cambiaghi –
2005 Belgium Stéphane Henrard / Antonia De Roissard Spain Marc Coma Italy Giuseppe Panseri / Marco Piana / Oscar Mor –
2006 Russia Sergey Shmakov / Konstantin Meshcheryakov Spain Marc Coma Italy Giacomo Vismara / Mario Cambiaghi / Paola Bellina –
2007 France Christian Lavieille / François Borsotto Spain Marc Coma Italy Matteo Paccani / Attilio Brevi –
2008 France Christian Lavieille / François Borsotto France David Casteu Italy Matteo Paccani / Attilio Brevi / Luca Baschenis –
2009 France Jérôme Pélichet / Eugénie Decré France Cyril Despres Not held Italy Camelia Liparioti
2010 France Jean-Louis Schlesser / Arnaud Debron Spain Marc Coma Italy Luisa Trucco / Corrado Pattono Argentina Marcos Patronelli
2011 France Jean-Louis Schlesser / Arnaud Debron Spain Marc Coma France Marco Piana / Christophe Troesch / Poland Jarosław Kazberuk France Lilian Lancelevee
2012 United Arab Emirates Khalifa Al Mutaiwei / Germany Andreas Schulz Spain Joan Barreda Bort Not held Poland Lukasz Laskawiec
2013 Not held
2014 Saudi Arabia Yazeed Al-Rajhi / Germany Timo Gottschalk Bolivia Juan Carlos Salvatierra Not held Poland Rafal Sonik
2015 Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah / France Mathieu Baumel Poland Jakub Piątek Kazakhstan Artur Ardavicius / Alexey Nikizhev / Czech Republic Jakub Hrava Qatar Mohamed Abu Issa

References

  1. ^ Edge, Alex. "Richard Sainct Killed in Egyptian Rally Crash". MotorcycleDaily.com. Archived from the original on 13 December 2004. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  2. ^ "Richard Sainct" (PDF) (Press release). FIM. 30 September 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2007. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  3. ^ "Militant threats, red tape, vast deserts: rally racing in Egypt". Roads & Kingdoms. 2018-08-13. Retrieved 2020-11-20.

External links

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