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MATERIALS FOR MASS-MEDIA
Press Release 3
On the Road of the Tsars,
an Imperial 2002 Master
1-11 August 2002
 For this
8th edition of the Master Rallye, René
METGE brings the summer leg of the FIA and FIM Off-Road Rallies World Cups to
his Slavonic lands. The race had not returned to Russia since 1999 and for this
return to roots, the departure will be given in the unique setting of the
«Venice of the North», cultural jewel and symbol of Imperial Russia.
Scrutineering and administrative checks will take place in St. Petersburg on 1 August, the start will be given on the 2nd in the morning from the heart of the
town and will proclaim the first leg as there is no prologue this year.
René METGE presents this new course whose watchwords are the great
classics of the Master Rallye: navigation road-book and driving pleasure, sporty
and subtle at the same time.
«I wanted this 2002 course to be intense, almost 5000 km in 10 days with 2500
km of SS (from 80 to 420 km), without any days of rest; intense from the
perception of the trail to the driving that will have to be adjusted with
finesse! Average speeds will be high, from 90 to 130 km/h, the terrain will not
be very rough but you will need to be vigilant and skilful as certain trails
were damaged by snow in the spring, but now you will have to deal with the heat!
As usual on the Master, the terrain will be very varied: very beautiful forests,
undergrowth, with sandy but driveable trails and others in laterite until Tambov.
Immense grassy fields, and crossings to arrive on the great semi-desert steppes
where the sole horizon is the roundness of the earth, and with these famous
sandy trails which can never be found once they have been left! Off-track will
be practically forbidden because of being too dangerous on these portions of the
race full of enormous crevasses. The Don and the Volga will accompany us until
the sand and dunes of Astrakhan and then it will be the entry into the great
prairies of Kalmukia, these plains so like Mongolia that this region is
nicknamed little Mongolia! After Elista and until the Black Sea we will run
along the Caucases with salty lakes and terrains, hills and canyons to reach the
shores of the Black Sea at last with a final special on the beach which should
be memorable!
There will not be any point in cutting across on this Master and time will often
be gained by driving slowly… and retracing one’s steps...
From the sports point of view this will be a wonderful rally where differences
in rating at the end will be infinitesimal with the exception of mechanical
problems, the tracks being so difficult to see that drivers and co-drivers will
be required to use their talents equally!
The competitors will be amazed by the welcome and the crowds who will assemble
to wait for them! Discovery and meeting the inhabitants of all these villages,
all these farms, will be amongst the most wonderful memories as they are very
lovable and really welcoming!
Optimum safety conditions have been set up for crossing villages directly with
the mayor, the governor or the farmer; and they are impatiently awaiting to
validate their «recommendations»! Many people remember the passage of the 92 and 97 editions and will do everything they can to help you and supply you with
repairs if you have a breakdown in their area, you can rely on them in complete
confidence!
Historical towns and places are on the daily programme of the Master: the
Kalachnikov and the Tula Samovars factories, the town of Kaluga where the
inventor of the first Russian rocket was born, the crossing of a
one-hundred-year-old listed forest, followed by 100 km of white sand in which
fords will crop up, the legendary Stalingrad which has become Volvograd today,
Kalach on the Don, the showplace of the second world war and the famous canal
connecting 5 seas over 80 km with differences in level of 130 metres, Astrakhan
on the delta of the Volga, Elista, capital of Kalmukia and chess playing, a
special which will be run on the crests of the Caucasians and where we will
dominate the bay of Novorossiysk. The arrival at the competitors’ Podium will
take place by boat, a little maritime gift in this bay which was also an
important historical site, it is there that the imperial navy was sunk during
the revolution against the Tsars!
This edition will be very «well attended», we will have the immense joy of
welcoming, amongst other stars and in other fields, Johnny Halliday, Emmanuel de
Savoie, Eric Cantona and Pascal Olmeta! Our «Amateur» formula is proving to
be a real success and I am moreover very pleased that we have 40% more entries
in this 2002 edition. I believe that our racing philosophy, safety where I have
always been very strict, the natural bivouacs on the banks of the Volga for
example, the 100% asphalt assistance course, the fact that we allow everyone to
reach the end of the adventure, all these points make the Master Rallye, in
spite of its youth (8 years old), a really special event in the World Cup;
people enter the Master for reasons of discovery and pleasure as much as for the
sporting aspect of this competition.
I hope you will be bewitched by the breath of the steppes in this new Slavonic
epic and that you will love this new look at the race that we have been
proposing for the last 8 years as much as I do».
For all information: MEDIA DEPARTMENT
Nadège BONNAUD:
Tel: + 33 (0)1 42 31 04 38/40
presse@master-rallye.com
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