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Rallye du Maroc 2024: Day 2 - Isidre Esteve rises to the top 15 in the Rally of Morocco
- The Spanish driver from and his co-driver Txema Villalobos overcome a long special stage of stones, dirt and sand, with a very good pace at the wheel of the Toyota Hilux T1+.
- The Repsol Toyota Rally Team completes the day in 15th position in the Ultimate category, the same position it occupies in the overall of the last round of the W2RC world championship.
- “We are feeling better and better and the car is going perfect. We have entered more in the race and after the dune area we have gone flat out until the end.”
The Rally of Morocco has increased the demand in its second stage, another loop around Zagora, but longer than the one disputed last Monday. Isidre Esteve has given his all and has signed a performance even more meritorious than the previous day. Together with his co-driver Txema Villalobos, the Repsol, MGS Seguros and TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Spain driver completed the 267 kilometers of the special stage in 3 hours, 27 minutes and 32 seconds, just 22 minutes and a half behind the first, in 15th position in the Ultimate category. In the overall, the Repsol Toyota Rally Team occupies the same position among the off-road prototypes.
Tuesday's special stage was contested in an area badly affected by the rains of recent weeks, with erased tracks and, therefore, greater dangers. It was imperative to scrupulously follow the directions marked in the road book, in order to find the right path. “Txema did very well with the navigation in the dunes, because a couple of times we lost the tracks, but we recovered well and found all the way point controls. From then on, we pushed hard all the way to the finish”, explains the driver from Oliana (Lleida).
The Toyota Hilux T1+ number 222 had a later starting position than last Monday, and Esteve and Villalobos took advantage of the dune area to get rid of the vehicles that were slowing their pace. “In the first part, the first 100 kilometers, we suffered a little with the dust from the trucks. But in the dune zone, we were able to pass them and impose our pace. The Toyota is going perfectly and we are feeling better and better. We got more into the race”, he assures.
It was not easy, because the dunes of the erg Chegaga were complicated, they were very cut off at the back. This sandy part was one of the main ingredients of a stage that also included many dirt tracks and stones. “The special stage was very nice because it had everything: dunes, dry rivers, fesh-fesh.... I'm happy, because starting so far back we were able to overtake positions and we ran a lot, especially at the end, on a very fast track of about 20 kilometers. I felt very good”, insists the Repsol Toyota Rally Team driver.
After three nights in Zagora, the Morocco Rally heads northeast on Wednesday for what will be the longest day of the rally. The total mileage is 685 kilometers, including a 325-kilometer special stage, also the longest of the last round of the World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC), ending at a point between the towns of Mengoub and Bouârfa. Once there, the last two stages will be loops around this bivouac, where the race will end next Friday.
Automatic translation of the Spanish version
Source: Repsol Toyota Rally Team / Mediagé Comunicación
Helder