A ceremony preceded by the traditional 22 km long Lac Rose special going from Niokob beach to the legendary body of water where the motorcycles, cars and trucks still in the race circled.
In the Motorcycle category the riders shone the spotlight on disabled rider Nicola DUTTO. The bikers got behind the Italian and his two guardian angels who accompanied him throughout the rally and they let him open up and win this final timed sector. A way of paying tribute to this extraordinary sportsman who covered the almost 6,000 km of the route strapped on his KTM equipped with a roll bar protecting his legs in the event of a fall.
After the race the first three rivers in the scratch, talian Jacopo CERRUTI on APRILA, also 1st in Multicylinders -1000 CC, his compatriot Alessandro BOTTURI,1st Veteran and Andorran Pol TARRES on YAMAHA a received the magnificent bronze trophies.
The winners of the different categories were also rewarded, including the Swiss rider Alexandre VAUDAN 1st in - 450 CC (also 1st in the Rookie Rider Challenge By Acerbis) on a KTM, Patrice CARILLON 1st in the Motul Xtreme Rider Challenge also on a KTM, The Italian Giovanni STIGLIANO 1st in over 450 CC on HUSQVARNA, Juan PEDRERO 1st in Multi-cylinders over 1000 CC on HARLEY DAVIDSON and forgetting the British rider Vanessa RUCK 1st female rider also on aKTM.
Finally, all the finishing riders received a bronze medal symbolizing the feat of having managed to stay in the ranking.
On four wheels, Frenchmen Gautier PAULIN and Remi BOULANGER were overall winners and took their SSV APACHE onto the podium to receive the two bronze trophies and also the two trophies in the SSV T3 U category. Then came the Belgians Pascal FERYN and Kurt KEYSERS, 2nd in the Rally and 1st in the 4x4 Petrol with their TOYOTA, while in 3rd position Spaniards Carlos VENTO and Carlos RUIZ MORENO drove the CAN AM to victory in T4.
Czech driver Tomas TOMECEK was rewarded for his 5th victory in the truck category at the wheel of his TATRA. The French team Frédéric HENRICY and Eric BERSEY won in the SSV EXTREME RACE challenge with a POLARIS, and the Dutchmen Teun STAM and Rene BARGEMAN won in 4X4 Diesel with a TOYOTA. The Moroccan Souad MOUTKADIRI finished 1st African driver with his CAN AM, while the Italians Giulio VERZELETTI and Giuseppe FORTUNA pocketed the victory in Truck -10000 CC with their MERCEDES.
Finally the Itaians Stefano ROSSI and Jacopo CASINI received the Experimental Vehicle trophy with a NISSAN running on Hydrogen; Eric and Grégoire COQUIDE won the OPEN category, also with a NISSAN.
Organisers also honoured racing veteran Yoshimasa SUGAWARA , legend of the discipline and finisher at 83, on a vehicle built with his own hands.
In the Classic race Belgians Tom and Eric CLAEYS were awarded the winners' trophy ahead of their compatriots René DECLERCQ and John DEMEESTER while Austrian Peter BRABECK-LEMATHE and the Frenchman Jean Michel GAYTE completed the podium.
The ceremony at Lac Rose was also an opportunity to parade on the podium the fifty vehicles from the Auto and Motorcycle Raid in order to offer the participants a souvenir medal.
