Rally of Morocco 2021: Isidre Esteve completes a perfect stage and sneaks into the top 10

Isidre Esteve  finished the fourth stage in 10th place overall and in T1, his best performance of this edition of the Rally of Morocco 2021.

The Repsol Rally Team driver highlighted the performance of his Toyota Hilux Overdrive and the great pace he was able to set after overtaking five rivals on track and becoming the best Spaniard in the standings.

"I'm really satisfied and enthusiastic with the pace we showed; we were confident and overtook when it was the right time. Tomorrow we are going to enjoy it to the maximum".

Isidre Esteve and Txema Villalobos starred in a perfect fourth stage in the Rally of Morocco 2021 and managed to get into the top 10 in the absolute classification of cars (T3 and T4 buggies included), as well as in their T1 category, to be the best Spaniards in the classification. All this despite having to overtake the five buggies that were ahead on Tuesday and that did not make it easy for them to maneuver in the middle of the dense dust in suspension of the Moroccan tracks. 

The Repsol Rally Team driver was very satisfied with the pace he was able to set during most of the day, which was characterized by fast and bumpy tracks, some off-road between rocks, several strips of dunes and a final complicated stretch of camel grass. In the longest special stage of the event (367 km against the clock), Esteve made the most of the last-minute adjustments made overnight to the steering wheel throttle ring (necessary due to his paraplegia) to extract maximum performance from his Toyota Hilux Overdrive. 

His outstanding performance has put him in 12th place in the overall car and buggy standings (8th among the T1s) with the last stage on Wednesday still to go. The Oliana native will start in the top 10, with a three-minute gap to the car in front, and hopes to be able to draw 100% real conclusions about his pace in competition, now with no dust in suspension and no other vehicles to overtake.

"It was a perfect stage, except for the time I lost to the five buggies in front of me. I am really satisfied and enthusiastic about the pace we showed and how the car behaved today. From the beginning we were confident, overtaking when it was necessary, despite the risky nature of this kind of maneuvers. But the car behaved impeccably, we haven't touched it at all so far in the race and tomorrow we'll start tenth"

, summed up the day for the driver supported by Repsol, MGS Seguros, KH-7 and Toyota Spain.

"We have found a very good set-up of the controls and now I feel super comfortable in the car. I can attack when I have to, I'm confident and I push it when the occasion calls for it. Tomorrow I will try to enjoy the stage as much as possible, with no dust in front, no T3s or T4s. If we don't have any incidents, it will be the reference we'll keep in terms of race pace", he explains.

Tuesday's stage went through some areas that the African Dakar used to go through in its Moroccan specials, although in a different direction and configuration: "There were tracks that I had done on a motorcycle, but as we rode them in a different direction, with many crossings, you don't have the reference of doing a stage of the old Dakar. Even so, there are some moments when you say 'this is where I've been'. Good memories always come back to you".

The organizers of the Rally of Morocco have decided to cut the last special stage of the event, to be contested this Wednesday, from the 291 km against the clock initially planned to just 166 for logistical reasons, so the riders still in contention will face each other for the last time in a total of 436 km to the finish.

Automatic translation from the official press release
Source official press release