Category: Nezaradené

The Slovak crew Benko – Sýkora finished second in the fourth stage of the Eco Africa Race 2026, which also moved them to the leading position in the overall standings in the SSV category.

The Slovak crew covered four hundred and eighty-three measured kilometers in a time of 5 hours 40 minutes and 16 seconds, which is not a bad performance at all. The stage went from the city of Assa to the Moroccan Khnifiss National Park. Its length was almost five hundred kilometers and the rider, Martin Benko, told us about what it was like on the track.

“Today was quite fun, as the first two hundred and fifty kilometers, or the first half, were quite rocky. There were more of them than we would have liked, and the rocks hit our rear brakes, so we only braked with the front brakes, which was not very pleasant. We also ran about ten kilometers more, and that’s why we were a little behind in the final. Today’s navigation was extremely difficult, so hats off to Marek, who managed everything. The second part of the stage was more suitable for big cars, there were long plains and very long straight roads. We had one puncture here, but otherwise it was fine. We are pleased to move to first place in the SSV category. We are going into the last stage of the first half of the competition with humility and a cool head.”

On Friday (30.1.2026), the participants will have their last stage before a one-day break. The route will head from Khnifiss to the city of Dakhla, where a Rest Day awaits the participants after the finish. During it, they will be able to rest, possibly take care of their equipment and repair any damage it has suffered so far. The fifth stage will certainly not be easy, as its length is planned to be almost seven hundred and seventy kilometers and the measured section included in the aforementioned length will be almost four hundred kilometers.

Second place in the overall standings of the SSV category in the third stage of the Eco Africa Race 2026 belonged to the Slovak duo Martin Benko – Marek Sýkora and their Taurus T3 Maxi buggy.

The Slovak Norwit Racing, together with the crew of Martin Benko – Marek Sýkora and their Taurus T3 Maxi buggy, finished second in the overall standings of the SSV category in the third stage of the demanding Eco Africa Race 2026, but also first in the T3 class. At the same time, with this excellent placement, they also moved to second place in the absolute standings in the SSV category and sixth in the overall standings of the car category.

“Today’s stage was very nice. At first there were about twenty kilometers of dunes in which we drove great, then we started long plains with a lot of stones. But here a strong wind was blowing against us and the car did not want to go faster than one hundred and twenty kilometers per hour. The wind was quite unpleasant and my hands really hurt from having to fight it all the time. But we managed everything, the only problem was before the refueling station, where our buggy started to vibrate and we thought it was a flat tire, so we slowed down and calmly reached the refueling station, where we found out that we did not have a flat tire and the buggy was in perfect order. Navigationally it was absolutely fine, Mareček handles everything perfectly. We are completely satisfied with the performance, to be honest we did not expect such a result. We hope that tomorrow will be a similar day and we will reach the finish line without any problems,” Martin Benko assessed after the third stage.

During the next stage, which starts tomorrow (January 29, 2026), the participants of the Eco Africa Race 2026 will move from the city of Assa to the Moroccan Khnifiss National Park, which lies on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. However, to get there, they must complete a stage almost five hundred kilometers long and also deal with a more than four hundred and eighty kilometer timed section. Since there will be a minimum of passes, only five kilometers, the competitors will spend the whole day only on the special stage. Since the competition has already moved to the territory of the Western Sahara, the track will be full of sand, high sand dunes and only here and there the competitors will come across a green oasis. We will talk about how the only Slovak crew in the buggy category will do tomorrow after reaching the bivouac.