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Agadir, 1st October |
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RALLYE DU MAROC 1st – 6th October 2022 |
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D 1: AND THEY’RE OFF! |
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In the bikes victory on the qualifying stage went to Ross Branch (Hero Motosports) ahead of Toby Price (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna Factory Racing) third. No surprises when it came to choosing their start orders with Branch opting to start as far back as possible in 15th behind Price and Benavides. In the cars Nasser Al Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing) went quickest, finishing 8 seconds ahead of Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing) with Sebastien Loeb (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) third. Quickest T3 was Seth Quintero (Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team) with Rokas Baciuska (South Racing Can-Am) taking the honours in T4. Tomorrow will see three Prodrive Hunters opening the piste, with Terranova leading out Chicherit and Loeb. With little to play for on the qualifying stage, as hinted at yesterday by Stephane Peterhansel, the three Audis played a low profile today in their Open category. |
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© Rallye du Maroc – DPPI |
© Rallye du Maroc – DPPI |
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ON TRACK It might have been just 9 kilometres but after 8 months deprived of their favourite pastime all the thoroughbreds entered on the 2022 Rallye du Maroc were champing at the bit on the start line. Not only were they keen to show their rivals what they were made of, for the top 15 in the bike class and the top 10 in the cars there was also the small question of being able to choose their start position for tomorrow’s stage. And just to motivate the bike competitors a little bit more, their times, which count towards the overall, were given a coefficient of 8.
In the bikes quickest over the terrain was a man who never hangs back, the Botswana Ross Branch aboard his Hero, just ahead of another bushman, the Australian two times Dakar winner, Toby Price (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). Third was Luciano Benavides on his factory Husqvarna. First Rally2 pilot was Bradley Cox (BAS World KTM Racing) who finished an impressive 5th place overall. When it came to choosing their start times Frenchman Anthony Fabre, who was classified 8th in the prologue will start first. All the other riders choose reverse order with winner Branch starting as far back as possible in 15th. Championship leader Sam Sunderland, who finished outside the top 15 will start just behind him.
The cars didn’t need any coefficient to motivate them, with victory going to Nasser Al Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing) just 8 seconds ahead of Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing) with the other man in the world championship battle Sebastien Loeb (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) third. First across the line in the lightweight prototype T3 class was the American Seth Quintero (Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team) in 9th with ‘classmate’ De Mevius 11th. First T4 is Rokas Baciuska (Can Am South Racing) in 12th place. T3 world championship leader ‘Chaleco’ Lopez is 13th with championship rival Christina Gutierrez 17th. Having the honour of opening the piste tomorrow will be Orlando Terranova in his Prodrive Hunter followed by Guerlain Chicherit (GCK Motorsport) in another Hunter with Sebastien Loeb setting off in his Hunter in third position.
RADIO BIVOUAC It’s the transfer of the year in the RallyGP class and how he’ll go on the Honda. Reigning world vice-champion and 4th on the 2022 Dakar on a Yamaha, Adrien Van Beveren joined the Monster Energy Honda team mid-season. On the Rallye du Maroc, where he finished 5th in 2021, the Frenchman will make his first official appearance on the CRF. Team manager Ruben Faria says he is very comfortable on the bike, super motivated and well integrated into the team. The new HRC rider shares this assessment, but is cautious about his return to racing: “It’s a great opportunity to ride a factory bike. I had a good feeling on the bike straightaway but it’s always easy to feel good in training where you don’t have any pressure and the pace is always one or two notches less than race pace because of the different safety measures. The race will give me a real reference point. My integration into the team has gone very well, I didn’t need to make a place for myself, we already shared a lot during the test sessions in Portugal in June before a fortnight in the United States which only reinforced my confidence. All the lights are green but it’s my first race with Honda, my first race since the Dakar, almost nine months without competition, so I don’t really know what to expect. I feel good and comfortable, but I am approaching the race with a mix of caution and concentration. I am not going to change my strategy, it has worked well for several years. The switch to Honda could give me that little extra that allows me to achieve more prestigious results.”
STAT OF THE DAY: 20 In rally raid 20 is a magic number, or at least a very popular one. Just a few examples: The motorcycle competitors, the only category not yet using tablette road books, have 20 minutes before the start to load their paper road book into their road book reader. They will of course also use that time to try and glean as much information as possible about the special they are about to race. Today on the 9 kilometre prologue there won’t be any navigation, as the route is clearly marked, however to avoid any course cutting the organisers have loaded WPP waypoints corresponding to each road book note it all the competitors GPS. It becomes visible to competitors’ GPS at 100 metres. And you’ve already guessed at what distance the waypoint is validated: 20 metres. Tomorrow competitors will be out in the desert and distances will be much longer. Many categories will need to refuel every 250 kilometres of so in ‘neutralisation’ zones set up by the organisers. These zones are under parc ferme regulations and whether you take on fuel or not all competitors have to stop have to stop for… 20 minutes.
W2RCAlthough the first stage was short, that didn’t stop the drivers chasing after the W2RC title from showing off their pace and skill. The leader in the FIA cars, Sebastien Loeb (Bahrain Raid Xtreme, 3rd on the day), concedes only 8 seconds to Nasser Al Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing) and 13 seconds to Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing).The leaders of the different world championships enjoyed mixed fortunes: 3rd place for “Chaleco” Lopez (Can–Am Factory South Racing) in T3 and for Mason Klein (Bas World KTM Racing) in Rally2, 5th time for Austin Jones (Can-Am Factory South Racing) in T4. On the other hand, all the lights are green for Martin Macik in T5 (MM Technology) and Alexandre Giroud in the quads (Yamaha SMX Drag’on) who both posted the best times in their respective categories. In the RallyGP category, Sam Sunderland (GasGas Factory Racing) and Pablo Quintanilla (Monster Energy Honda), respectively 1st and 2nd in the championship, preferred to hang back and posted the 13th and 6th fastest times.
QUOTES Just before the start of this 22nd edition we had a quick chat with last year’s winners of the bike and car classes:
Nasser Al Attiyah: “We have a lot of objectives on this race and that what makes it particularly interesting. We need to continue developing the car and prepare for the next Dakar. At the same time we will be fighting with Seb (Loeb) for the lead in the world championship and that isn’t going to be easy. Don’t forget that we broke the car in Abu Dhabi after just a few kilometres… For sure we have a lot of experience of racing here and we’ve won this race 6 times but it is never easy and everybody has big ambitions.” Pablo Quintanilla: “Does being last year’s winner make me favourite? I’d say so (laughs)! There’s pressure because we all want to win, show what we can do. Once again it will be important to give your best. It is always a tough race but I feel good and am really motivated to race this new edition”
TOMORROW’S PROGRAMME Stage 1B: Agadir – Tan-Tan Liaison: 241 km / SS: 316 km (57%) / total: 557 km (FIM Bike Rally 3 and OPEN Car – liaison: 241 km / total SS : 236 km (49%) / total : 477)
A TOUGH START David Castera: “There will be pretty much everything in this first stage. It will be varied and should not be taken lightly with more than 300 km of SS. Competitors will have encounter beautiful tracks that go up and down through the hills, plus a stretch of beach to be swallowed whole, with sand and navigation. It’s not an easy start and my team would have liked to shorten it. But there was no way to keep it balanced so we kept it as it was. At the finish, the first bivouac will be set up at the Tan-Tan camel market, a real landmark of the nomadic culture.” |
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MEDIA CONTENT |
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#rallyedumaroc #W2RC
Official website HERE |
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PRESS CONTACT / CONTACTO DE PRENSA |
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Matthieu Perez – media@rallyedumaroc.com
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2022-10-01_And-theyre-off-.pdf
