The Rallye du Maroc has seen the first big test over rugged off road tracks with 316 kilometres that even the organisers predicted would be difficult and tricky. With desert conditions and even a short part of the stage along the beach of the Atlantic Ocean, the Bahrain Raid Xtreme team had speed through the stage but were unlucky to be caught out by punctures over the very toughest sections that were part of the original Paris-Dakar Rally rout
First off from the start line, Orlando Terranova and Alex Haro with their Prodrive Hunter were on exceptional form to show their searing speed in the early part of the stage but relinquished the lead to fellow Prodrive Hunter drivers Guerlain Chicherit/Alex Winocq after a puncture
Were it not for the time taken changing wheels, Chicherit would have been a very solid candidate for the stage victory today but had to slot in to fourth at the line. Terranova is equally upbeat about the pace of the Hunter crossing the line in fifth today
Sebastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin clipped a rock at the wrong angle early on that damaged the front suspension necessitating an instant wishbone change in the stage by the World Rally Raid Championship leaders. After a swift change in difficult conditions they continued with their customary fast pace only to take, like many of the top runners, punctures towards the end of the gruelling test.
The BRX team are refreshing the cars tonight as tomorrow sees a series of testing tracks and sandy roads as the Rallye du Maroc heads further south to Laayoune where searing near 40 degree celcius temperatures await.
Sebastien Loeb. 9th - “After such a successful test with the Prodrive Hunter recently, it was a complicated day for us as after 20 kilometres we had a broken wishbone on the front. We lost time changing that but then we were really unlucky to have a couple of punctures, one of which was close to the finish so we ran to the line with it rather than stop. We have the speed with the car so we will be back tomorrow to push again.”
Orly Terranova. 5th - “What I learned today is that I can follow our main rivals through the hardest terrain in a head to head and that’s a positive for this rally with the Prodrive Hunter. I think that the decision to start first on the road was good because further back it would have been very dusty. We had a slight navigational mistake 16 kilometres in that let Guerlain past meaning we had a bit of his dust to get through only to then have a couple of punctures, one flat out at nearly 170kph. We then had to be careful over the last 200 kms as we had no spare tyres.”
Guerlain Chicherit. 4th - “That was a long tough stage for not just me, but the car too but I’m still amazed by what I can do with the car because I understood during the stage where I can push more, particularly through the camel grass, but now I know what the Hunter can do. We were going so well in there today only to catch two punctures in the last 80 kilometres. Very frustrating, but we’re here and I now know the car can make it and more importantly that I can make it to the top of these tough rally raids.”
Gus Beteli. BRX Team Principal - “That was a difficult stage for the cars and for the crews but to see the pace of Guerlain at the start was just stunning, especially as he was first on the road for such a long time. To then be matching Nasser Al-Attiyah on pace in his first event with the Prodrive Hunter was very impressive. Very unfortunate for Seb to lose some time too at the beginning but it’s a long rally and we’ve got four days to go with the daily Championship points and when we finish in Agadir on Thursday.”
Source BRX
