It goes without saying that a motorcycle with a multi-cylinder engine and displacement of over 650 cubic centimeters will usually outperform a single-cylinder, 450cc model. Usually.

Stage 3 of the Africa Eco Race, the first full-length leg after the first three days were plagued by bad weather, already delivered an upset when Thomas Marini beat the more powerful bikes for the win. His Husqvarna FR 450 was the only vehicle, bike or otherwise, to navigate the 440-kilometer special in less than five hours.

“The navigation wasn’t easy, but I managed to avoid making any big mistakes,” said Marini. “Once I caught up with the French guy, we went on together. We helped each other a bit with the navigation, so it went well. I’m very happy with it.

“We need to stay focused because the race is long, but in the meantime, we’ve brought this one home and it’s a great result.”

In fact, two of top three bikes on the stage podium were 450cc. Kevin Gallas’ Yamaha Ténéré 700 was sandwiched between Marini’s Husqvarna and Jean-Loup Lepan’s KTM 450 Rally, and the latter in turn was surrounded by Ténérés and Aprilia Tuareg 660s. The next highest bike under 650cc was the KTM 450 of Valentin Sertilhanges in 11th.

Being the first full stage, there were bound to be some incidents. Jacopo Cerutti, for example, made a mistake at the start and fell off the pace then got stuck in the sand, further slowing him down. Despite his difficulties, he managed to finish fifth ahead of Stage 2 winner Alessandro Botturi. Noa Sainct ran out of fuel.

Gerben Lieverdink, who had to retire after falling on the rocks on Tuesday; he broke six ribs, his pinky, and had a collapsed lung. Marini’s Solarys teammate Paolo Caprioni crashed and broke his wrist and ribs.

One SSV rolled in the dunes, prompting Tomáš Ouředníček to come help. The truck of Martin Roeterdink also stopped to assist another overturned racer.

Another side-by-side driven by Philippe Champigné collided with the Porsche 964 of Axel Berrier, who is competing in the Africa Eco Race Historic; Berrier explained he had stopped to let another SSV pass, but the offending car didn’t see his Porsche in the dust nor activated the Sentinel to warn him. Fellow AER Historic driver Édouard D’Hondt exited with a mechanical issue on his Peugeot 504.

Stage 3 winners

Bike

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
450cc	1	30	Thomas Marini	Solarys Factory Team	4:53:26
Over 450cc	25	123	Fabio Lottero	Club Aventura Touareg	3:04:08
Over 650cc	2	171	Kevin Gallas	Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team	5:01:19
Electric	96	100	Cyril Forget	CFR Endurance	5:30:00
Quad	95	97	Alexis Varagne	Team Sénégal	5:30:00

Car

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T1+	4	215	Christian Femont	Desert Foxx Racing	5:14:31
T1.1	6	200	Vincent Vroninks	Desert Lions Rally Team	5:29:10
T1.2	1	205	Pol van Pollaert	Desert Foxx Racing	5:05:27
Open	14	208	Éric Coquidé	RT2R	11:00:00

SSV

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
SSV	1	251	Pierre Lafay	Team Gazzafond	5:06:36
T3	2	299	Martin Benko	Norwit Racing	5:17:09
T4	3	273	William Grarre	TRC	5:29:01

Truck

Class	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T5	400	Gerrit Zuurmond	Rainbow Truck Team	6:41:01

Historic

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Points
Group 1	3	384	François-Xavier Bourgois	Acit Racing	185
Group 2	1	322	Dirk van Rompuy	TH-Trucks Team	70
Group 3	8	352	Philippe Voisin	Aventure Girousse	685
Truck	18	307	Sébastien Desprets	RT2R	3,242

Leaders after Stage 3

Bike

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
450cc	1	30	Thomas Marini	Solarys Racing	7:22:36
Over 450cc	22	13	Alexandre Azinhais	Club Aventura Touareg	9:15:43
Over 650cc	2	171	Kevin Gallas	Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team	7:27:40
Electric	94	100	Cyril Forget	CFR Endurance	22:40:00
Quad	99	97	Alexis Varagne	Team Sénégal	33:25:00

Car

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T1+	3	215	Christian Femont	Desert Foxx Racing	7:52:16
T1.1	6	200	Vincent Vroninks	Desert Lions Rally Team	8:08:14
T1.2	1	205	Pol van Pollaert	Desert Foxx Racing	7:32:08
Open	14	208	Éric Coquidé	RT2R	15:27:05

SSV

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
SSV	1	251	Pierre Lafay	Team Gazzafond	7:31:10
T3	2	299	Martin Benko	Norwit Racing	7:55:19
T4	3	273	William Grarre	TRC	8:09:48

Truck

Class	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T5	400	Gerrit Zuurmond	Rainbow Truck Team	9:49:03

Historic

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Points
Group 1	2	384	François-Xavier Bourgois	Acit Racing	799
Group 2	1	302	Jorge Pérez Companc	Madpanda Motorsport	587
Group 3	7	352	Philippe Voisin	Aventure Girousse	2,211
Truck	19	307	Sébastien Desprets	RT2R	8,696

Featured image credit: Solarys Racing