Rallye du Maroc 2023: "It was like Mars" - Brazilians finish among the best in the world at the Morocco Rally
Marcos Baumgart and Kleber Cincea finished seventh, while Cristian Baumgart and Beco Andreotti had a "Mad Max" day, overtaking more than 60 cars. VIDEO MATERIAL AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TEXT BELOW
The Morocco Rally contested by brothers Marcos and Cristian Baumgart became a great and valuable experience. The event, which closed the 2023 season of the World Cross Country Rally Championship (W2RC), began last Friday (13) in Agadir and ended this Wednesday (18) in Merzuoga. Over 2,200 kilometers and five stages were covered by the Brazilian brothers from X Rally, who competed in the car category aboard the Prodrive Hunter T1+.
Marcos Baumgart and navigator Kleber Cincea finished the race in seventh place overall among the cars, out of a total of 102 competitors and a grid with the biggest names in off-road racing today, such as Stepháne Peterhansel, Sebástien Loeb, Carlos Sainz, Nasser Al-Attiyah, among many others.
"The balance of the race was very good, the team was top 10. The race really taught us a lot, it took the navigators out of their comfort zone: we're used to navigating by spreadsheet, and here by CAP [navigation without physical references, where the stretch to be covered is defined by the angle of the direction in which the vehicle is going], something totally different for us too. The pace is also different: we're below what we expected, but I think it was worth the hour of flying and the learning. The result came as a consequence, it was great to ride the way we did and finish in the top ten. A good preparation for the Dakar, for us, to know that we can evolve more; that's what's great," he said.
Sertões champion in 2020, Baumgart was surprised by the difficulty of the sections. "It felt like we were on Mars. I've never seen so many rocks in my life. The desert had stretches with darker sand and the dust also made the sky reddish. Without seeing anyone along the way, it really felt like we were on another planet with our ships," he compared.
The four-time Sertões champions, Cristian Baumgart and Beco Andreotti, faced problems in two of the five stages and finished only 54th in the final standings, but they shone during the race.
The Baumgart brothers started the rally first (Marcos/Kleber) and second (Cristian/Beco), a first for a Brazilian rally in a race valid for the world championship.
Cristian and Beco had suspension problems on the third day and opted not to complete the special in order to return safely to base camp. That's why, on the following day, they started from 92nd position. "It was a Mad Max day. It was rock, dust, and everything fell into place. There was company at all times. There were cars everywhere. I don't even know how many we passed, but it was a special day for us," said navigator Beco Andreotti. Starting from 92nd position, they overtook 67 cars and ended the day in 13th place in the T1 category.
"It was a very difficult rally. It was dunes and rocks all the time. It was also a test for the navigators. It was very positive. We faced some problems, but we also experienced situations that we weren't used to in different events, like the Sertões, for example. We learned a lot and evolved a lot, racing against a very high-level grid," said Cristian Baumgart.
The X Rally Team is sponsored by Vedacit, Motul, BF Goodrich and Rodobens.
Automatic Translation from the original Brazilian Portuguese version
Source: X-Rally
Photo: Prodrive/X Rally
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