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Rallye du Maroc 2023: Successful finish for Jones and Gugelmin in gruelling first stage
The first day of this year's Rallye du Maroc proved to be a significant challenge for all teams. US driver Austin Jones, alongside his Brazilian co-driver Gustavo Gugelmin, arrived at the bivouac noticeably exhausted yet following a positive opening stage. Despite encountering a few minor glitches, they navigated the special section with a careful yet efficient pace to sidestep any major issues. Ultimately, they secured a 6th place finish in the T3 class.
“It was a long day. Long liaison this morning, long stage this afternoon, and then a long liaison back afterwards. I think we got P5 or 6 on the day, I'm not 100% sure, but had a little bit of trouble in the beginning. We had a tire de-beat on us, like a puncture, but it was kind of weird, the tire came off. For the rest of the day, try not to get any more flats, try to stay away from getting out. That was really the only issue, navigation was very hard, especially at the end, we got a little turn-around, so awesome time. Overall it was a good day. The car ran very well and I'm happy with everything. Gustavo and I are going to move on to tomorrow and we'll see how it goes,”
Austin Jones said after the stage.
“First day, I'm very tired. It was a long liaison section. The race was pretty difficult. I think same thing as stage two of Dakar, lots of rocks. And after refueling, lots of navigation, really hard. I think we had a good pace. We got a flat tire. And at the end, at the last waypoint, I missed it. And then we had to turn back and find a waypoint. So we lose some time. But besides that, we finish. It's a long race. First day. Glad I'm here. And let's go for tomorrow,”
co-driver Gustavo Gugelmin added.
Text: Rita Kónya
Interview: Sveta Amelichkina
Photo: Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool
Rita Konya