Rallye du Maroc 2022: Austin Jones adds important points to his tally

On Day 3 of Rallye du Maroc, the penultimate round of the inaugural FIA World Rally-Raid Championship, T4 leader Austin Jones continued the damage-limiting operation after technical problems put him out of contention for the victory right in the first stage. However, with a second place today the young US driver continues to score vital points for the championship.

“We just finished Day 3 in Morocco. It was a really good day for us today, P2 by only 40 seconds or so so we're really happy with that trying to get back on track. It was really really windy, really dusty, obviously right now we're inside of the physio tent because it's too windy outside even to hear me talking. Really windy, really dusty, really hot. But yeah, overall a good day, another day in Morocco.
Today the temperature reminded me of at home in Arizona. It had to be at least 100 out there, Fahrenheit obviously. So, it was hot. And it was windy. The dust was insane. And yeah, it was a tough one today but happy we got it done and happy to be back in the bivouac.
This is like the hardest sand really I've ever been in. I’ve raced a couple of Abu Dhabis, a couple of Dakars, obviously in Saudi, and this sand is way different. It's super soft, like almost getting stuck in four-wheel drive in some places, you know, so it's really hard to drive and just eats everything. So the sand is hard, it’s weird out here,”
Austin Jones described the circumstances.

“Today it was 299 km, really fast, with a lot of rocks, and also navigation. We had just small issues today, like one tricky navigation point, and we had to change one tyre. It was a good day for us today,”
co-driver Gustavo Gugelmin added.

With Rokas Baciuska scoring 5 points today and Marek Goczal finishing out of the points, the fight for the top positions of the W2RC series remains fierce, promisng an interesting fight for the next days.

Text: Rita Kónya
Interview: Sveta Amelichkina
Photos: MCH / South Racing