Dakar 2023: Moraes/Gottschalk in the front row at the "Dakar School"

• First sporting goal achieved: Lucas Moraes and Timo Gottschalk among the day's top ten on leg three of the "Dakar
• Scenically beautiful, navigationally and drivingly tricky: Route from al'-Ula to Ha'il shortened due to bad weather
• Also strong: Good performance by "Dakar" newcomer Moraes brings ninth place overall

Paying close attention at school today? Lucas Moraes and Timo Gottschalk certainly put themselves in the front row at the "Dakar" and were promptly among the best in class. On the third leg of the desert classic from al-'Ula to Ha'il, the Brazilian-Brandenburg duo finished the day in ninth place overall. Dakar" rookie Lucas Moraes took advantage of the starting order: First he latched onto the secret favorites Yazeed Al-Rajhi/Dirk von Zitzewitz (KSA/GER, Toyota), then to the Toyota brand mates Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings (RSA/RSA). So in terms of driving style, Moraes was able to learn a thing or two from some of the best in their field.

Beautiful view, hard work: The third section of the Dakar Rally 20223 led from al-'Ula to Ha'il, over sand tracks, scree passages and partly open countryside. The navigation was tough, especially because of the many changes of direction and the partly visible, partly hidden junctions.

Already in the next two days the newly acquired knowledge would like to be well applied: With loops around Ha'il, particularly tough stages are expected - both in terms of physicality and concentration for the drivers and co-drivers.

Lucas Moraes: "We are extremely satisfied with the third stage, another problem-free drive! No punctures, we didn't have to get out of the car, which is always important. We are happy that it we were on a top ten pace. Of course, we want to maintain that in the coming days."

Timo Gottschalk: "A much nicer stage than yesterday. More sand, quite nice to drive. We had a good pace, Lucas followed Yazeed Al-Rajhi for a long time, later Henk Lategan and was able to learn a lot. That was important to see what was possible. No problems plus good speed makes satisfaction all in all."n gutes Tempo, Lucas ist lange Yazeed Al-Rajhi gefolgt, später Henk Lategan und konnte dabei viel lernen. Das war wichtig, um zu sehen, was möglich ist. Keine Probleme plus guten Speed macht alles in allem Zufriedenheit.“

Automatic translation from the original German version
Source Dakar.direct
Photo MEM Motorsport