Over the gruelling second stage of the Rallye du Maroc, Bahrain Raid Xtreme’s Prodrive Hunters of Sebastien Loeb/Fabian Lurquin and Orly Terranova/Alex Haro took dominant first and second places over the 316 kilometres from Tan-Tan to Laâyoune. The speed of the Hunter was further confirmed by the GCK Motorsport car of Guerlain Chicherit/Alex Winocq that backed up the pace of the leading duo to finish third and thus make a clean sweep for the Hunters on the stage and in the overall rally standings.
As the rally approaches the half way point tomorrow, Loeb/Lurquin have taken the overall lead of the Rallye du Maroc with Terranova/Haro in second just eight seconds back and Chicherit/Winocq in third place just 4 minutes and 20 seconds back of the flying Frenchman, Loeb.
Over a much faster stage than yesterday’s run into Tan-Tan, today’s test saw a section over the top of a high plateau and then the first of the dunes of this year’s rally before arriving into a new bivouac at Laâyoune, some 640 kilometres from the start of the rally in Agadir. As with all stages in the 2022 FIA World Rally Raid Championship, it was no easy route that the organisers laid out through the dry riverbeds and the first erg (large series of dunes) of the event.
For the Bahrain Raid Xtreme team and all at Prodrive International, today’s result is the confirmation of long hours of design, testing and hard work on the ground across different continents since the Prodrive Hunter T1+ made it’s competition debut on the Dakar Rally in January this year.
Sebastien Loeb. Winner stage 2. “That feels really good! We did a very good job today to make this 1-2-3 on the stage after so much hard work everyone in the BRX team has put into the Prodrive Hunter. After yesterday’s troubles we had a really good stage without many mistakes at all; just one puncture in over 300 kilometres wasn’t bad at all to make it a clean run. They’d made the navigation very difficult in there, really making you work to find the way points, but that’s rally raid and that’s why it’s so satisfying to win a stage like this.”
Orly Terranova. 2nd. “That felt like a really long stage. It was difficult in the early kilometres as we had a puncture, so I said to myself to just check my pace a little but after the neutralisation I really started to up my speed. There were some more stones and then dunes that were technical to drive but if you don’t drive with your head you’ll be in trouble but the car feels so good. Last night we made some changes to the suspension and I felt better today and great to be part of this 1-2-3 finish.”
Guerlain Chicherit. 3rd. ‘’Again, this car is just insane. It’s just incredible! That aside, I had some punctures like so many others today but as I fought back through the main part of the stage it felt so great to really feel the speed… and I know I have the speed. Sure, it’s a frustrating thing to have these punctures, but it’s a great day for the Prodrive Hunter and the GCK Motorsport team to be part of the clean sweep of the podium. Our day with our car will come to get higher up the order and I can’t wait for that to come.”
Gus Beteli. BRX Team Principal “Today was a dream day for Bahrain Raid Xtreme with a 1, 2, 3 on the stage and a 1, 2, 3 on the rally which is such a fantastic result. Everyone has made such a huge effort to get to this point back at base and on the rally. The drivers and co-drivers navigated some very difficult kilometres today trying to avoid punctures in this searing heat. There are still three days to go but we will keep pushing to keep these positions to the end with the focus to extend our lead in the world championship.”
1. Loeb/Lurquin Prodrive Hunter 2h 56m 54 secs
2. Terranova/Haro. Prodrive Hunter +10m 15 secs
3. Chicherit/Winocq Prodrive Hunter. +18m 08 secs
4. Van Loon/Delaunay Toyota +24m 23 secs
5. Yacopini/Oliveras Toyota +24m 41 secs
6. Esteve/Villalobos Toyota +31m 16 secs
7. De Mevius/Cazalet T3 +32m 46 secs
8. Al Rajhi/Von Zitzewitz Toyota. 33m 22 secs
9. Prokop/Chytka Ford +35m 16 secs
10. Lopez/Mena Can-Am +36m 44 secs
Source BRX / Prodrive
