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Having landed at the Port of Goulette in Tunis in the morning, the competitors taking part in the 2008 edition of the Rally of Tunisia set off on a short, technical 25 km route near the Nabahala Dam. A brief warm-up session before heading south towards the Matmata bivouac. Among the favourites, Christian Lavieille set the third-fastest time, whilst in T2, Thomas Loussier claimed the stage win in his Nissan Pathfinder. His team-mates, Jean-Pierre Strugo and Laurent Rosso, were 3rd and 4th resp ectively. The first true rally-raid stage will take place tomorrow, between Matmata and Nalut, in Libya, with a 295 km special stage. The serious business is about to start…

After a day of rest and relaxation on board the Car thage ferry, the competitors in the 2008 edition of the Rally of Tunisia 2008 landed on the African continent in the morning. The day's special stage, which was relatively short, gave the Team Dessoude members no problems. This technical route start ed on an old Roman road, before going into a pine grove, and winding over a number of small hills. It was important to remain vigilant, as there were a number of ruts and holes along the way.

Starting off in 4th position this morning, Christian Lavieille set the 3rd fastest time of the day in his Proto Dessoude. « It w as a nice little special stage, WRC style, which was great fun to drive. However, you had to watch out for the holes and the dust. We took care, and the few seconds between us and our main rivals will not make much difference over the next 4000 km ! But it gave me the opportunity to find a good feeling with m y car, and my good impressions from the super special were confir med today. All the wor k we did before the Dakar is, so far, very satisfactory in terms of the suspension and drive. From tomorrow, the distances will be bigger, with a special stage nearly 300 km long. We're about to really get going ! »

In the T2 category, Thomas Loussier, with Bernard Irissou as his navigator set (to his great surprise) the best time of the day : « A very nice special stage, which was a great way for me to get used to everything again, as I hadn't driven for two years, since Morocco 2006. I am very pleased with the handling for the Pathfinder and I really enjoyed those 25 km. We are trying to get through softly in order to avoid any traps or punctures. »