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

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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

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

References

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  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.
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