Transorientale 2008

Instead of this year's Dakar we now have this. Set up by Rene Metge, Transorientale 2008 will start in St.-Petersberg on June, 12 and finish in Peking on 28th. Thus, more than 10000 kilometers through Russia, Kazakhstan and China.
In the end of February more than 300 entrants were registered, having a $10000 for entering in mind. About 120 will ride quadricycles, more than 100 - cars, as for trucks - it is still unknown. The registration is not yet over and will last till March, 31.
I'll try to catch them when they'll pass through Moscow province, though they won't visit Moscow itself, AFAIK. At least, the route map shows they won't.

Sounds awesome. I think one oughtta be held in the North America going from Anchorage for Panama City.

I thought they were running it in South America instead this year?

[QUOTE=sutton4481;794499]I thought they were running it in South America instead this year?[/QUOTE]

Well, actually, any new rally-raid could be dropped 'instead of Dakar'.
I meant a bit another thing :p South American rally lasting about 6000km was quite short and for me couldn't be a truly Dakar successor, while this one is much longer.

[QUOTE=sutton4481;794499]I thought they were running it in South America instead this year?[/QUOTE]

They are, that one is actually "Dakar" this is just another long race I guess. You'd have to do a search on the forums to find the SA one, I posted about it.

Sooo, things are going well now... On June, 12 all the cars should arrive to Rogachevo, Moscow province where I hope to catch them.
What is interesting is that Jean Louis Schlesser will drive Porsche Cayman S. At least, this is what the sources read. Very impatient to know what does this Cayman look like.

Today was a really black day for Transorientale.
Yesterday in the morning Xu Lang, Chinese driver, suffered a very serious injury - as he tried to help the other car which got stuck. The towing cable has torn and hit Xu Lang in his head. Unfortunately, Chinese driver died today in a hospital.
Moreover, today in the morning on a 6th rally stage an accident occured involving #42 KTM motorcycle driven by Philippe Tonin and #401 Kamaz truck. Philippe Tonin became a second victim of this bloody day.

My deepest condolences.

Have you got any pictures of the new Schlesser machine?

Did all the planned Dakar entrants enter this race?

Ooooh found a day one highlight
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZqLX9m7p1w]YouTube - Transorientale : Day 1[/url]

Schlesser's machine turned out to be a standard Cayman.

[QUOTE][B]Jean-Louis Schlesser to follow Transorientale in a Porsche Cayman S[/B]

The two time Dakar winner and world endurance champion will have the chore of driving a Porsche Cayman S from St. Petersburg to Beijing and the winner of the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation.



This idea is very dear to race organiser René Metge. The relationship between Metge and Porsche is along standing affair, which took off when the Frenchman took top honours in the firm’s 959 four wheel drive car on the
Dakar. “I would like to organise a Rally Raid for GT cars beginning in 2009. It will not be an easy task to complete but I love a challenge”, said Metge.

Behind the wheel of the absolutely standard Porsche Cayman GT, Jean Louis Schlesser will serve two roles. First he will have to do everything it takes to make sure the car makes it to the finish line in China but he will also have to run his team with José-Luis Montverde given the job as driver.

Schlesser’s passenger in the Cayman will be Marc Victor who won the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation award, which rewards up and coming talent from the world of cinema, photography and literature. And thus Marc Victor will get to live the Rally Raid experience in the company of one of the sport’s all-time greats.

motorstv.com[/QUOTE]

And the provisional entry list looked like this (from May, 22).

[QUOTE]200 Eric VIGOUROUX Alexandre WINOCQ CHEVROLET TROPHY TRUCK FR Pro-system Racing
201 Jose Luis MONTERDE Jean Marie LURQUIN SCHLESSER DSC16 ESP Team SCHLESSER
204 Jerome PELICHET Eugenie DECRE BOWLER FR Team Pelichet
206 Nicolas GIBON Antoine Gibon TOYOTA FR TECHNORAID
207 Ronan CHABOT Gilles PILLOT TOYOYA FR Toys Motors sports Paru vendu
208 Ronn BAILEY Kellon WALCH JIMCO CHEVROLET BUGGY US Ronn Bailey Motorsports
210 Matthias KAHLE Thomas SCHUENEMANN HONDA BUGGY PROTO GER HS-Hamburger Software
211 Etienne SMULEVICI Gilles TIXADOR BUGGY GACHE FR Team SMG
212 Bernard ANDRIEUX Marc AIVAZIAN TOYOTA HDJ80 PROTO FR Team ANDRIEUX
214 Maris SAUKANS Didzis ZARINS OSC OSCAR LET Riga Rally Raid Team
215 Gerard DUBUY J-G DE FRANCE DE TERSANT NISSAN FR Sarl MD Rallye Sport
216 Bernard ANQUETIL Philippe GODET NISSAN FR Sarl MD Rallye Sport
217 Philippe VANDROMME Frederic VIVIER BAT BUGGY FR Motorsport Evenements
218 Christian BARBIER Odile BARBIER MITSUBISHI FR Team Trucks rallye africa
220 Arnaud DUBRISAY Dominique GIBON BOWLER FR TECHNORAID
222 Patrick MARTIN Jean METZ BOWLER FR TECHNORAID
223 Yves FROMONT Francois FROMONT BOWLER FR TECHNORAID
225 Jean Louis JUCHAULT Xavier ROLET TOYOYA FR Toyota team
224 Yves MORIZE Raynald PRIVE MERCEDES ML FR Team Autodistribution
226 Herve TOSCANO Philippe BOCANDE NISSAN FR Sarl MD Rallye Sport
227 Eric MORIN Mayeul BARBET BOWLER FR Team MORIN
228 Dominique BAS Didier HAQUETTE MITSUBISHI FR XDUNES SUDEXPE
229 Jean-Francois LE ROCH Shariff JOHER TOYOTA FR XDUNES SUDEXPE
231 Alain RAYNAL Christophe FIGARET TOYOTA FR Paray Aventure
232 Christophe GIRARD Eric SIMONIN TOYOTA FR Team Girard
233 Jeroen BROUWERS Jan van DE BOR TOYOTA NDL Dutch Team Dakar
234 Jerome BONFILS Pierre-Paul CHANOINE DESERT WARRIOR BUGGY FR Rally raid 34
235 Jerome HARDY Philippe LECOMTE MITSUBISHI FR Hardy Racing Team
236 Carlos OLIVEIRA Jean Paul FORTHOMME ZHENGZHOU OTING ANG Team DESSOUDE
237 Jose Carlos MADALENO Jean BRUCY ZHENGZHOU OTING ANG Team DESSOUDE
238 Zhou YONG Sylvain PONCET ZHENGZHOU OTING chine Team DESSOUDE
239 Xu LANG Fabian LURQUIN ZHENGZHOU OTING chine Team DESSOUDE
240 Georges LANSAC Clement LANGLOIS MERCEDES ML FR Team Lansac
242 Niek GOVERTS Chris SOMSEN LAND ROVER DISCOVERY NDL Holland Cranes RallyTeam
243 Vadim NESTERCHUK Yuriy KONDRATIYEV MITSUBISHI L200 UKR Optima Leasing Ukraine
244 Michele DE NORA Lorenzo RAVIZZA NISSAN PATROL ITA Motortecnica di Calzi
245 Stephane PINARD Samuel ANNEE KAP OUTLAW FR MORY Team
246 Philippe GALLOIS Lionel BOCH VOLKSWAGEN BUGGY FR Team Nj Motorsport
248 Laurent CHARBONNEL Christian BOULET TOYOTA FR Team Charbo-Kiki
249 Rudy ROQUESALANE Vincent DECHAUD RR CONCEPT FR RRCONCEPT
250 Bernard DUC Dominique DURAND RR CONCEPT FR RRCONCEPT
251 Junkun MA Jun GUO MITSUBISHI chine Hongue Rally Team of China
252 Qingxian HUA Chuannan TIAN HRT MITSUBISHI chine Hongue Rally Team of China
253 Zhou YUANDE Yao JIANPING/Wang HAIYANG MITSUBISHI chine Sichuan Chengdu Zhouyuande
254 Xudong HE Huijan JIANG CHANGFENG chine CHINA LIEBAO TEAM
255 Min LIAO Bin LIU CHANGFENG chine CHINA LIEBAO TEAM
256 Kachun YU Weiyuv XU CHANGFENG chine CHINA LIEBAO TEAM
257 Arnould BOURGUIGNON d'HERBIGNY Amaury BOURGUIGNON d'HERBIGNY TOTOTA FR Parfums d'aventure
258 Jean Philippe THEURIOT Patrick PROT BOWLER FR TECHNORAID
259 Jean Pierre TOURNIER Samuel GOETGHEBEUR TOYOTA FR Haute Savoie Aventures
260 Patrick ROBERT Michel MATHEZ TOYOTA120 FR Aventure 25
261 Alain LEPLAT Pierre DOMICENT BOWLER FR ID Rallye

Assistance - Transorientale 2008

500 Jean Francois VIGOUROUX Jeremy WITT Roland FRANCONVILLE NISSAN PRO SYSTEM RACING
501 Angelo CASCINO Sandro DI PIERI DAIMLER PRORACE
502 Hedi BEN ATTIA Eric EL KHEZAMI TOYOTA PARAY AVENTURE
503 Vladimir TABAKA Rastislav KATRIOAK Frantisek MIEKO NISSAN ENVIRON TEAM
504 Philippe HEYNDEREYCX Hans FORTUIN John VAN RATINGEN TOYOTA TECHWORK-EUROTECH RACING
505 Johnny HAKVOORT Paul HEINEN Olaf KREISS FORD HS-HAMBURGER SOFTWARE
506 Emilio BOSSER Joaquin TRYOL Antonio HERRERO AUBANELL TOYOTA RUMBOZERO
507 Benjamin COUPECHOUX Dominique CADEI Henri Jean WILSON TECHNORAID
508 Heike LABINSKY Thorsten KAISER ROAD STAR
509 Norbert Leicheter MITSUBISHI TEAM NJ MOTORSPORT
510 Maryse MOREL David ANGER Cedric BRAGA NISSAN MD RALLYE SPORT
511 Semen YAKOUBOV Vasily KVACHEV Eugeny SKRYLEV KAMAZ TEAM
512 Guy van Der SYPT Pierre DE FRENNE MITSUBISHI DE ROOY 2008
514 Xuejun HU Nan LIU Xianfeng LIU TEAM DESSOUDE
515 Andre DESSOUDE Geraldine DESHAYES Michel TARGEZ NISSAN TEAM DESSOUDE
516 Jean Louis SCHLESSER Arnaud MOUNIER TEAM SCHLESSER
517 Ling LIU Jing YOU Changfend CHINA LIEBAO TEAM
518 Guang Long RU Gang Xian Changfend CHINA LIEBAO TEAM
519 Jiyu WANG Yuenhoi CHAN Changfend CHINA LIEBAO TEAM
520 Gang DAI Yi SU Yunkun ZHENG CHEVROLET HONGUE RALLY TEAM OF CHINA
600 Gilles LEGUAY Bernard PERRAULT Julien GOUREAU PRO SYSTEM RACING
602 Yves TARTARIN Jacques PLUCHON Stephane LAGRANGE AUTODISTRIBUTION
603 Jean Paul DESBOEUF Remy MARSOLAT Dominique RICHARD TEAM LUR o DAKAR
604 Linley SULLIVAN -PAVEY Bernie WRIGHT Herbert SCHEK TEAM PAVEY
605 Andreas RENNER Martin BRANDL KRT RACING
606 Michel CHARAT Marc DUFLAUT Radim PUSTEJOVSKI XDUNES SUDEXPE
607 Christian BEILLES Michael NAUDET Alain HOPPE XDUNES SUDEXPE
608 Olivier RICHARD Pierre HERBERT MOTORSPORTS EVENEMENTS
609 Pascal BEUROIS Jean Louis RAIMONDI HARDY RACING TEAM
610 Ed WIGMAN Gerardus VAN DEN BERG Martin ROESINK DUTCH TEAM DAKAR
611 Guy MANIVELAZ Michel TICHET CHARBO-KIKI
612 BOIS Olivier Xavier THIBAULT PELICHET
614 DUIZENDSTRA Frits Frank FAERBER Louis BORGELINK HS-HAMBURGER SOFTWARE
615 BRIEDIS Gunars Kaspar OZOLINS Haralds ULMIS RIGA RALLY RAID TEAM
616 LAUBEAU stephane Christian PANTALACCI TEAM TRUCKS RALLYE AFRICA
617 DELIMBEUF FRANCIS Jerome BROEKS ylvain LOHOU TEAM SCHLESSER
619 DUBOIS Frederic Eric DUTHEIL Alain PRUVOST TECHNORAID
620 CALZI Stefano Luigi Antonio VANNI Pascal ROSOLEN MOTORTECNICA DI CALZI STEFANO
621 HAHLE Martin Hakan HAMMARSTEDT Sten Ake LIEN TEAM SCANDINAVIA
622 GAMBILLON Emmanuel Michel GAMBILLON Jean Paul VINCENDEAU MD RALLYE SPORT
623 ANTHONY Gerad [email][email protected][/email]
625 SHAFFNER Fabien Denis SENET Thierry HENRIOT TOYS MOTORS SPORT
626 Nail BAGAVETDINOV Rafail ILYASOV Igor DEVYATKIN KAMAZ TEAM
627 Sergey RESHETNIKOV Akhmet AKBERDIN Idar SHAYSULTANOV KAMAZ TEAM
628 Foat BIGASHEV Mikhail MYASOEDOV Vladimir MIKHAYLOVSKIY KAMAZ TEAM
629 Fred van PUTTEN Bert Jan RICHTERS Rob LOEFFEN MAN FACTORY
630 Peter OCKER Robert WALMANN Alexander SCHMUCK MAN FACTORY
631 Edwin van DOOREN Frank DEENEN Jan van DE LAAR MAN FACTORY
632 Toine van OORSCHOT Marcel van MELIS DE ROOY 2008
633 Mickael ANNEE Hubert CHEDALEUX Genevieve HESPEL MORY TEAM
634 Damien FARGEAS Pascal LAFARGE Bret Robert LEEF RONN BAILEY MOTORSPORT
635 Aleksandre BOICHENKO Volodymyr GRISHCHENKO Anatoly MAYSTRENKO OPTIMA LEASING
637 Jerome LAMOUREUX Dominique SEGUIN Eric SCHWILDEN TEAM DESSOUDE
638 Gerard ROBIOLLE Ludovic BARBOT Jerome BUSCHMANN TEAM DESSOUDE
639 Donald KUIJS Eric van GEMERT Bert van DE EIJNDE HANS BEKS TEAMSPORT
640 Paul AUBER Didier LELONG SMG/GACHE
641 Hendricus VERCOELEN Liudmila GUBINA Otto DOLSTRA HOLLAND CRANES RALLYTEAM
643 Chris COLAERS Dick SPRUIJT Clim SMULDERS DE ROOY 2008
642 Harry SCHUURMANS Paul WILLEMS Willem OOMS MAN FACTORY[/QUOTE]