Rallye du Maroc 2022: Positive finish after nightmare start for Austin Jones

Austin Jones (USA) and Gustavo Gugelmin (BRA) saw all their hopes crushed already in the first stage of Rallye du Maroc due to technical problems but the crew managed to overcome the difficulties and made the best out of the rest of the stages, scoring important points for the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship.

“I just finished up Rallye du Maroc 2022. It was a very nice rally, very tricky, very rocky, the hardest one I've ever done so far. So, yeah, it was tough. We came back from the issues that we had and we made the best out of it. We had a good last three stages. So I'm super happy about that. Gustavo did a great job the entire time. And yeah, we just stayed positive and kept him moving and this morning woke up with a lot of allergies. So that was kind of tough, but other than that, we're happy to be here and happy to be done,”
Austin Jones said at the finish of the rally.

“Well, we finished Rallye du Maroc. We tried to get as many points as we could because it was a difficult really for us since the beginning, we had some issues. Now, happy we are here and we go for Spain. We have to push in Spain for the World Championship,”
co-driver Gustavo Gugelmin added.

The upcoming Andalucia Rally, however, does not promise to be easy for the Jones and Gugelmin. Due to their problems in Morocco, they lost the lead in the World Championship and slipped back to P3 in the standings, meaning that the reigning T4 Dakar winner crew will really have to do their best to turn the tables and win the inaugural FIA World Rally-Raid Championship.

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