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Rallye du Maroc 2023: Morocco is go for Bahrain Raid Xtreme
The first kilometres of the 2023 Rallye du Maroc took place today with a 19km prologue for the Bahrain Raid Xtreme team to attack in their freshly built Prodrive Hunters. Sébastien Loeb/Fabian Lurquin were 12th on the stage with Orly Terranova/Bernando Graue one spot in front to take 11th.
As with all short prologue stages in the World Rally Raid Championship, there is always a case to not risk too much right at the start of such a big event that has taken 1000s of man hours to prepare for, and that is what the two BRX crews had as their target.
The result was where the team aimed to be for Loeb/Lurquin and Terranova/Graue come the return to a boiling hot service area on the outskirts of Agadir on the Atlantic coast this evening.
Tomorrow is a big day for the entire rally as the bivouac travels over 720 kilometres east towards Zagora, a spectacular part of Morocco that saw the rally visit last during the 2021 edition of the Rallye du Maroc. However, there will be no time for sightseeing as all of the Prodrive team focus will be on the stages that are real tests for the endurance of the Hunter and the crews driving them, but relishing the challenge nonetheless.
Sébastien Loeb - BRX: “It was OK today. Not the best of speed but we are in a good position for tomorrow so we are happy as a crew. We were just trying to get the right feeling in the car after being so long without doing a stage, but now back here we will adjust two or three things before tomorrow aiming to have a good stage.”
Orly Terranova - BRX: “The car is fantastic. I feel fast and confident after the start here in Morocco with the roads meaning we were in top gear for much of the stage today. I feel we were pushing well until kilometre 11 over this jump when on the landing we lost a bit of time. At the end of the stage I saw we were 10th but then we got bumped to 11th so it worked out for tomorrow (and the seeding).”
Gus Beteli, BRX Team Principal: “We’re very happy to be back in the World Rally Raid Championship with our cars on the stages again! It may well be a prologue today but the big part of the rally will start tomorrow with some good positions off the start line for our Prodrive Hunters. We are looking forward to the challenge again here in Morocco where we took a 1-2 last year.”
Sourche Bahrain Raid Xtreme
Helder