No big upsets in the bike class today but a difficult start for Sebastien Loeb (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) with the world championship leader losing 20 minutes 40 seconds to his rival Nasser Al Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing), second on the day and overall behind Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Toyota Overdrive). In T3 ‘Chaleco’ Lopez (Can-Am Factory South Racing) took the win, as did Marek Goczal (Cobant-Energylandia Rally) in T4.
ON TRACK
Ross Branch’s (Hero Motosports) decision to start 15th this morning paid off, with the Botswanan winning the first stage from Agadir to Tan Tan ahead of Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna Factory Racing) and Toby Price (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), with those three also holding those positions overall. In the W2RC battle Pablo Quintanilla (Monster Energy Honda) lost time with a crash before the refuelling to finish 13th on the stage, to his championship rival Sam Sunderland’s fifth. The young American sensation Mason Klein (BAS World KTM Racing Team) dominated the Rally2 class riding up at the front with the leading RallyGP riders! In Rally3 victory went the Moroccan rider Amine Echiguer.
In the cars, Sebastien Loeb (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) started the rally by changing a suspension triangle at around kilometre 20 before suffering two flat tires at the end of the stage... and a two-minute penalty for speeding once he reached the bivouac. In the end he finished 9th on the day in T1, more than 23 minutes behind the leader. Victory went to Yazeed Al Rajhi (Toyota Overdrive) ahead of Nasser Al Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing) who finished 3'13 behind the Saudi. Przygonsky (X-Raid Mini JCW) completed the podium. Like Al Attiyah, Guerlain Chicherit (GCK Motorsport) had two punctured tyres but scored Prodrive's best result with a fourth place 9'50 behind the winner. In the provisional standings, the Saudi is 3'05 ahead of the Qatari and Chicherit is almost ten minutes behind. Loeb was seventh. In T3, Lopez (Can-Am Factory South Racing) won ahead of teammate Helder Rodrigues (see Radio Bivouac) and Seth Quintero (Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team), with the trio almost in the same minute. Cristina Guttierez (Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team) finished 4th almost a quarter of an hour behind. In the general standings, "Chaleco" is ahead of the American and Rodrigues. In T4, Marek Goczal (Cobant-Energylandia Rally) finished thirteen minutes ahead of South Racing Can-Am drivers Rokas Baciuska and Lucas Del Rio. In T5, Zuurmond (Rainbow Truck) wins in front of three Iveco Powerstar of MM Technology, with boss Martin Macik just one minute behind. Overall the Czech leads the general standings thirty seconds ahead of the Dutch team.
RADIO BIVOUAC
This isn’t the first time South Racing has nurtured an ex-factory motorcycle rider making the transition to four wheels via the T3 or T4 categories. In 2019, Francisco Lopez, a star in Chile during his motorcycle career, returned to the Dakar after a five-year absence. Winner on his first SSV outing, "Chaleco" opened the ball of Dakar victories for former motorcycle champions. That same year, the Spaniard Gerard Farres, another ex-motorcycle rider, took second place, handing South Racing a ‘one-two’. After a second Dakar crown in 2021, the Chilean moved to T3, still with a South Racing Can-Am. A try out that proved a master stroke, just as in 2019. He won his 3rd crown in Jeddah last January. On this Rallye du Maroc, two other ex-professional motorcyclists are making their debut with South Racing. Helder Rodrigues has an impressive track record: seven Top 5 finishes on a motorcycle on the Dakar, including two podiums, before acting as test rider for Yamaha and Honda and then manager at HRC. The Portuguese competitor, who lives close to South Racing’s workshops has, over the last year, participated in the development of their prototypes. In Agadir he is making his T3 competition debut at the wheel of a Can-Am as preparation for next year’s Dakar. Among the 16 Can-Am crews here in Morocco another ex-biker is also making his debut with Scott Abraham's team, the largest in the world championship. Andrew Short has an equally impressive CV. Rallye du Maroc winner in 2019, 8th on the last Dakar with the Yamaha factory team, the American ex-motocross and supercross star is here co-driving for the Australian Molly Taylor. Helder and Andrew aren’t the only ones dreaming of following in the Chilean’s footsteps. On the next Dakar, another ex-factory rider should be making his T3 debut. For once, it won't be with South Racing, or with the Red Bull Off-Road Junior team for that matter! All will be revealed shortly...
STAT OF THE DAY: No 1
It is a story that is as improbable as it is fantastic. Anthony Fabre is a good enduro rider but not exactly famous. In the intimate world of rally raid nobody had ever heard of him until yesterday afternoon when he was classified 8th on the qualifying stage of the 22nd Rallye du Maroc. The timekeepers and the federation were instantly alerted and diligently started looking for a technical error, a hic in the system that could explain this unlikely performance but none was discovered and his result stood. Then yesterday evening the first 15 riders, the elite of rally raid, came together to select their start position for today’s stage. All that is except Anthony, who completely unaware of this procedure, discovered it while watching the rally’s TV coverage as he was having dinner with his wife. With the elite choosing to start as far back as possible, Anthony was ‘given’ the honour of opening the stage on his first ever rally, ahead of the world’s fastest riders. “I didn’t sleep a wink last night and I was pretty nervous this morning when I set off,” admitted the Frenchman. “The first rider caught me after just 7 kilometres... I was worried he’d coming flying past me and scare the life out of me but he gave me plenty of room and a thumbs up as he came past. All the others were the same and I discovered at first hand that rally family friendliness that I’d heard so much about. Tomorrow is my 31st birthday and this is a great way to celebrate it.”
W2RC
Leading the FIA world championship offers no guarantees once out on the special. Sebastien Loeb (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) amply demonstrated this by losing nearly 20 minutes changing his front suspension triangle. Other leaders used the day to increase their leads. Mason Klein (BAS World KTM Racing) for example in Rally2 (24 minutes ahead of second-placed Bradley Cox) and 'Chaleco' Lopez (South Racing Can-Am) in T3, who is more than 14 minutes ahead of second-placed Cristina Gutierrez. For their part, Sam Sunderland (GasGas Factory Racing) 5th on the day in RallyGP and Alexandre Giroud (2nd, Yamaha Racing - SMX - Drag'on) in the quads stay close to the day’s winners and keep all their chances of championship success very much alive... To be continued!
QUOTES
Ross Branch (Hero Motosports) - “I started off a bit slow this morning – didn’t want to take too many chances on a bike full of fuel in the rocks. I was just trying to keep it safe and on two wheels – that’s my goal here. Obviously winning today means I will have to open tomorrow but that’s OK too because my navigation is not on point and there’s nothing like training when you’re racing. I’ll ride as fast as I can navigate. I know I’m going to lose time but I just need to keep my head.”
Mason Klein (BAS World KTM Racing Team) - “I started 5th. Around kilometre 100 / 110 I caught Franco (Caimi) but I didn’t try and pass him ‘cos he knows what he’s doing and the next thing you know we see Kevin (Benavides) and Ricky (Brabec) coming back at us. Franco just gasses it, knows exactly where to go, does a good job. Then Ricky and Kevin got around us. Their pace is really nice. I really really wanted to open some of the stage today but then I remembered Skyler (Howes) saying to me one time: “just chill out and let them do the work…”
Guerlain Chicherit (GCK Motorsport) - "This is the first time in my career that I have had a car as competitive of my ‘little friends’. I was always in the development stages and ended up frustrated. I had already done some rallycross with Prodrive and I called David Richard who offered to build a fourth car and a real test programme. The Rallye du Maroc is a very difficult rally, if you go the distance and you have a good pace, overall you can say you are ready for the Dakar. The objective is the W2RC 2023 and the Dakar 2024. I have to get stronger because my rivals didn’t wait for me during the years when I was struggling. Now I am lucky to have a teammate like Séb Loeb with whom I have a good rapport. Today we opened for two hundred kilometers in front of Nasser and we didn’t do too badly. On the second part I had two punctures and the air gun didn't work, so we had to do it by hand and twice lost five minutes. Tonight we're not where we hoped to be but the speed was there and the car is taking it all in."
TOMORROW’S PROGRAMME
Stage 2 : Tan-Tan – Laâyoune
Liaison : 120 km / SS : 315 km (72%) / total : 435 km
The first dunes
David Castera: "The second stage will be quite different because it will be more rolling. As we head south, the landscapes will be nice at the beginning before arriving on big plateaus in the middle of the stage where it will be more difficult to maintain the pace. The first section of dunes will arrive with a small erg. It will not be as dense as those you had on previous years, but it will be the first big section of dunes. At the finish, the new bivouac will be up above Laâyoune, overlooking the wadi. We will be separated from the city by sand, water and vegetation. It will be a majestic site where we will stay for two nights.”
Source Rallye du Maroc
Photo DPPI Production
