The 2024 Africa Eco Race (AER) was a huge success for both the Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team and the Yamaha Ténéré Spirit Experience project, with stage victories, a double overall podium finish and some fantastic adventures en route to Dakar.
Double success for the official team
The official Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team completed its first competitive event of 2024 impressively, with experienced Italian rider Alessandro Botturi finishing in second place overall and his talented Spanish teammate Pol Tarrés securing a notable third. Botturi and Tarrés claimed seven stage victories between them, with former two-time AER winner Botturi taking the battle for the overall title right down to the penultimate day of racing.
A customer in the top 10
Adding to Yamaha’s success at the race, Nicolas Charlier, who was competing in the event as a Yamaha Ténéré Spirit Experience rider – supported closely by the Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team – placed fifth overall in the 700M class and ninth in the general classification.
During the race, the official AER social media channel produced an excellent ‘AER Inside’ video explaining the involvement of Yamaha Ténéré Spirit Experience customer Charlier in the rally. The video can be viewed on the Yamaha Ténéré Spirit Experience Facebook page and features Belgian rider Charlier and Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team manager Marc Bourgeois.
When AER Inside spoke to Charlier at the end of the 404km special from Fort Chacal to Dakhla on Stage 5, he explained, “Previously I participated in the French and World Supermotard Championships. Now I’m 31 years-old and I wanted to find out more about Rally events. It’s a childhood dream, something I dreamed of and then the opportunity presented itself to participate in the AER here in Africa, with a finish at Dakar. So it’s a dream which I’m really happy to achieve.”
Commenting on having Yamaha Ténéré Spirit Experience riders supported by the official Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team at the AER, Team Manager Bourgeois stated, “It’s about getting closer to our customers, to give them new experiences, the ultimate experience within the official team and Nicolas was seduced by this project. That’s what Yamaha does with the Ténéré Spirit Experience. This is with the Ténéré 700 and with the new GYTR kit, which is made for upgrading the bike to be in this kind of category.”
Speaking more generally about his team’s performance at the event, Bourgeois said, “I’m very happy with what we’ve achieved as a team at the Africa Eco Race. It was a fight for the overall win from the beginning and we won many of the stages. It’s clear from our results that our bike is at a very high level. The team spirit is also really high and I’m proud of everyone involved in this project.”
Meanwhile another Yamaha Ténéré Spirit Experience client Patrick Morisseau also rode with the project at the AER in the Raid category, stating, “I have to say the team is a group of fabulous people, well qualified and really helpful.”
the very essence of adventure
The Africa Eco Race itself represents the pure essence of Rally-Raid adventure and competition, keeping the spirit of the original Paris-Dakar race alive over 4,500 kilometres against the clock, covering some of the first routes of that epic race in 1978.
In the 2024 edition of the AER, over 12 demanding stages, the riders battled over the stony slopes of Morocco, tackling the dunes and the vast plains of the Western Sahara, to the border with Mauritania, then covering soft sand fields, alternating with huge belts of dunes and desert plateaus. After entering Senegal the competitors encountered a magnificent display of colours, with the slopes then accelerating towards an epic finish at the famous Lac Rose.
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