The second half of the Super-Marathon stage lived up to its promise in the FIM bike-quad category. Toby Price (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) won the day and jumps up to first place overall. Like the Australian rider, Carlos Sainz (Mini John Cooper Works Buggy) successfully adapted to the distribution of the road book just before the start. The Spanish driver takes his first stage win of the rally, while the man he narrowly beat today, Nasser Al-Attiya continues to lead overall, 17’21” ahead of Stephane Peterhansel.
The start of stage 3 this morning for the FIM and FIA categories was a first. The road books were distributed 20 minutes before the depart for FIM bikes-quads and five minutes before for the FIA cars. The competitors set off for ‘unchartered territory’ with varying degrees of success.
The stage was devised into three timed sections for the FIA cars, for a total of 363 kilometres. The FIM bikes-quads finally only raced two of the specials, totalling 291 kilometres, with the last part being cancelled for safety reasons. The Enduro Cup Afriquia, SSV Maroc Telecom and Open cars-trucks raced two specials of 121 and 148 kilometres.
FIM BIKES-QUADS: PRICE PULLS OFF THE DOUBLE
Eighth overall this morning, Toby Price (Red Bull KTM Racing Factory) had an excellent day, as not only did he win the second half of the Super-Marathon stage, at the same time he jumped up to the top of the overall leader board of the 2019 Rallye du Maroc. The Yamahas of Adrien Van Beveren, ill since the start of the rally and of Xavier De Soultrait, engine broken at kilometre 347, didn’t make it to the finish line. Joan Barreda (Monster Energy Honda Team), winner of the first part of the Super-Marathon stage, got lost after having opened the track this morning. The day after the retirement of Sam Sunderland (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team’s moral improved considerably, with Matthias Walkner joining his Australian teammate at the top of the rankings, 4’06” behind the leader.
In the quad category it was a closely fought battle between Alex Dutrie (Drag’on) and Ignacio Casale (Drag’on) with the Frenchman beating his Chilean teammate by just 4”. Rafal Sonik (Sonik Team) was third, only 30” behind. The Chilean’s Dakar preparation is thus going perfectly according to plan. Overall Ignacio Casale (Drag’on) is 36’35” ahead Rafal Sonik (Sonik Team) and 42’35” in front of Kamil Wisniewski (Wisniewski Team).
Toby Price (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing): “I tried to preserve the tyre a little bit yesterday and preserve the bike a bit. To have the last 75 kilometres cancelled is quite frustrating as I still had quite good tyres, I had a good bike. I could have made more time at the end and then again I could have got lost… So frustrating but still a good day and we’ve made some time. Tomorrow I’ll be at the front and everyone will catch me. A bit of cat and mouse.”
Matthias Walkner (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing): “It was a really long day and really hard navigation. Everybody must have got really lost because I was sure I’d lost about 15 minutes because I made two really big mistakes and in the end I have finished quite well. A tough day but the result is not so bad.”
Franco Caimi (Yamalube Yamaha Rally Team): “Yes it was a good day. A day to really take care of the bike and also of ourselves because the tyres were destroyed and to end the stage was a big challenge. But I navigated OK and am really happy to be here at the end this marathon stage. Not easy.”
Johnny Aubert (Sherco TVS Rally Factory): “A good day, a nice special to ride. My tyre was in reasonable condition and I was able to maintain a good pace throughout the day. Felt a bit more confident with the navigation and the changes they have made (road book in the morning) maybe even things out a little for me.”
Ignacio Casale (Drag’on): “I’m very happy to be here in Morocco. It was a very hard and long stage and I hope tomorrow is another good day for me. Today was difficult navigation but good for me and I’m happy with the result. This race is very important for me to prepare my Dakar. I test my new quad and I’m very happy with the work Drag’on team have done.”
Adrien Van Beveren (Yamalube Yamaha Rally Team): “I started to get sick 2 days before the rally. Yesterday I felt better but now I feel bad again. If we were on a Dakar I might have continued but given the risks we take it isn’t worth continuing. If I feel better tomorrow I’ll restart."
Sam Sunderland (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing): “Obviously I’m super disappointed to be out of the race. After winning stage 1 I was opening stage 2 when, at about km 200, I high-sided when the back end broke away. Now I’ve got a big bruise on my leg and I’ll need to get my elbow checked out when I get home. Very disappointing for the team and myself – luckily the championship is all wrapped up.”
STAGE 4
The last stage around the bivouac of Aoufous will be a mix of stony tracks, sandy oueds, dunes, fast pistes and camel grass – pretty much everything that can be found in the region. Following a liaison of 67 km, the FIM / FIA competitors will race 408 km and 30 km of liaison, while the Enduro Cup / SSV / Open categories will have ‘only’ 311 km of special before heading back to the bivouac via 89 km of liaison.
RESULTS:
F.I.A. stage classifications : https://registrorm.odcevents.com/live/live_03.asp?stip=R01&cat=5
FIA overall classifications: https://registrorm.odcevents.com/live/live_08FIA.asp
F.I.M. stage classifications : https://registrorm.odcevents.com/live/live_03.asp?stip=R02&cat=2
F.I.M. overall classifications : https://registrorm.odcevents.com/live/live_08FIM.asp
Enduro Cup Afriquia stage classifications: https://registrorm.odcevents.com/live/live_03.asp?stip=R03&cat=1
SSV Maroc Telecom stage classifications: https://registrorm.odcevents.com/live/live_03.asp?stip=R03&cat=3
Open car stage classifications : https://registrorm.odcevents.com/live/live_03.asp?stip=R03&cat=4
Open trucks stage classifications : https://registrorm.odcevents.com/live/live_03.asp?stip=R03&cat=6
Enduro Cup Afriquia / SSV Maroc Telecom / Auto Open / Camion Open overall classifications : https://registrorm.odcevents.com/live/live_08RES.asp
Source Rallye du Maroc
