Rally of Morocco 2021: A fast sprint qualifying to get a first taste of the Rallye du Maroc

Everything is ready for the 2021 edition of the Rallye du Maroc that kicked off today with a 10-kilometre Prologue to decide the start order for tomorrow’s first stage.
 
After three editions starting from Fez, the rally organized by David Castera returns to Zagora, as in 2014. Strategically located between the two largest ergs of the country, the Chegaga  and the Chebbi Erg, the rally will explore the beautiful Moroccan desert on 3 out of the 5 stages.

“Thursday was very important for the final shakedown before the race”, stated Enrico Gaspari of the CST Polaris team, one of the 4 crews lined up by Xtremeplus. “In total we covered around 100 kms with the new Polaris Pro XP turbo. It was an intense day of testing with the whole team and Marco Piana, the team owner, to support us with his precious experience. Considered that it’s a brand new machine, we worked on all the areas: we tested the engine, we worked on the setting and the pressure of the tyres. We continued to work also this morning, but we are very confident as we saw several improvements. The CST tyres worked really on the sand as well on the rocky parts. With the temperatures around 42° degrees, we already had the chance to test the car in similar conditions to the ones we will find on the Dakar”.

All in all it was a very team work, that saw all the 4 Xtremeplus crews involved.

Carried out the administration and technical checks, the competitors focused on the Prologue. On the menu: a mini 13 km liaison, sprint and then another 13 kilometres liaison back to the bivouac.
The first part was over stony tracks with numerous changes of direction, while the second half was on faster sandy tracks.

“It was a very fast prologue, and I enjoyed it a lot despite a small issue that didn’t allow us to use the whole potential of our Polaris. The CST tyres made the difference on the sharp stony tracks”,

said Enrico Gaspari of the CST Polaris Team, who finished 8th in the T3 category.

“This is just the start! It was a very fast sprint qualifying despite the demanding stony part. We didn’t push to the maximum, because it will be a long race. Everything went well. We just had a doubt on a note, and we lost some time”,

said the experienced Jose Luis Pena Campo, 6th in the T3 category.enrico
 
A puncture at km 2 of the timed section spoiled the performance of the Ecuadorian Sebastian Guayasamin and his co-driver, the Argentinian Ricardo Torlaschi. Despite this issue, the robust CST tyres allowed the duo to finish the prologue in 3rd position of the T4 category. Crossed they finished line, they finally changed the tyre.

“It is really nice to return to explore the Moroccan desert. I liked today’s stage but I found a bit difficult the new digital roadbook”,

said Graham Knight, 20th in the T4 category. The Rallye du Maroc, organized by David Castera, the Director of the Dakar Rally, adopts in fact the same navigation system of the Dakar and the competitors receive the roadbook, in the digital form, only 20 minutes before the star, making the life more difficult for the co-driver.
 
Today’s prologue was just an appetizer of what the competitors will face these days. Tomorrow the competitors will plunge into the Chegaga Erg for the 1st stage that features 288,24 km of times section for a total of 441,77 kms.

Source Xtremeplus