It’s two stages down and another three to go at the 2022 Rallye du Maroc! We’ve already seen plenty of drama across the categories as racers go for World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) points. Let’s head out to dunes to see which Dakar contenders are making their mark on the sands of Morocco.
It was a great day in the desert for WRC legend Sébastien Loeb (FRA) and his co-driver Fabian Lurquin (BEL) in their Prodrive Hunter BRX. The duo soon put a broken wishbone on yesterday’s stage behind them to charge through today’s 316km timed special in the fastest time of any vehicle. The result lifts Loeb to first place overall in Morocco and keeps him on course to extend his lead in the T1 rankings of the inaugural W2RC.
« We had a great stage today, nothing like yesterday which was really bad for us. It was a clean run, the navigation was not so easy but we did a very good job. » – Sébastien Loeb
Four punctures on Stage Two cost Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) and co-driver Mathieu Baumel (FRA) nearly an hour. The Toyota Gazoo Racing pair now lie seventh overall, two places in front of the MINI John Cooper Works Buggy of Kuba Przygonski (POL) in the T1 rankings.
« Today was not easy for everybody and we had four punctures to deal with. This cost us a lot of time because we’re only allowed to carry two spare tyres in the car. » – Nasser Al-Attiyah
In the Open Class it was another day of domination from Audi Sport. Carlos Sainz (ESP) and co-driver Lucas Cruz (ESP) brought home their Audi RS Q e-tron Evo 2 just five minutes off Loeb’s winning time. Sainz’s team-mates Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA) and Mattias Ekström (SWE) also both enjoyed a clean day of racing as Audi continue their preparations for the upcoming Dakar.
« It was another positive day. The most important thing is that the car is running perfectly. » – Carlos Sainz
Leading the charge in the bike race for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing is Toby Price (AUS). The two-time Dakar winner is second overall after two stages, less than two minutes behind race leader Skyler Howes (USA). A sixth place finish on Stage Two puts Price in a strong position to attack the front of the race during tomorrow’s loop stage around the Laâyoune bivaouc.
« The second stage has gone good and we’re sitting well in the overall. It was a difficult day for navigation among the rocks, camel grass and dunes, but we came out of it all with a good result and no big issues. » – Toby Price
Price’s KTM team-mate Kevin Benavides (ARG) is eighth overall following a strong second place finish on Stage Two. Meanwhile, overall W2RC leader Sam Sunderland (GBR) is just seven minutes off first place.
« It was another really tough day on broken terrain. I made a few mistakes in the first 100km. Then after the refuelling I had a little reset and was feeling good. » – Sam Sunderland
In a tight battle for supremacy in the T3 Class we find reigning Dakar champion Chaleco López (CHL) in first place after two stages in Morocco. López backed up his Stage One win with a runners-up result today in his Can-Am with co-driver Juan Pablo Latrach (CHL).
« Our gap now to second place is 10 minutes, but we won’t rest because there are still many more days of racing to come. » – Chaleco López
Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP) of the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team finished Stage Two just 27 seconds behind López as they continue to battle for the edge in the W2RC leaderboard. Gutiérrez and co-driver Pablo Moreno (ESP) have put their OT3 just 15 minutes behind López in the rankings with three days of racing remaining.
« I’m happy because it’s the first time in OT3 with Pablo and we’re going from less to more! » – Cristina Gutiérrez
Gutiérrez’s team-mates Seth Quintero (USA) and co-driver Dennis Zenz (USA) led the T3 stage for much of today before having to settle for fourth place. Quintero is second overall, less than 10 minutes back from López in the general classification.
Two further Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team race crews of Mitch Guthrie Jr. (USA)/Ola Fløene (NOR) and Guillaume de Mevius (BEL)/François Cazalet (FRA) are also still in the mix. A stage win today for De Mevius has propelled him to seventh overall in the T3 rankings in Morocco.
« We’ve won Stage Two and we’re very happy. The car is going very well, we had no big issues today. We’re focused on getting all the mileage we can ahead of the next Dakar. » – Guillaume de Mevius
Tomorrow’s Stage Three will challenge the convoy of competitors over a 300km timed special stage before returning to the bivouac in Laâyoune.
Rallye du Maroc Standings after Stage 2
T1 – TOP 3
1. S. Loeb (FRA) – Prodrive, 06:57:20
2. O. Terranova (ARG) – Prodrive, +00:08
3. G. Chicherit (FRA) – GCK, +04:20…
T3 – TOP 3
1. F. Lopez (CHL) – CAN-AM, 07:40:39
2. S. Quintero (USA) – OT3, +09:21
3. C. Gutierrez (ESP) – OT3, +15:28…
BIKE – TOP 3
1. S. Howes (USA) – Husqvarna, 08:12:44
2. T. Price (AUS) – KTM, +01:40
3. L. Benavides (ARG) – Husqvarna, +03:42…
QUOTES
Sébastien Loeb: « We had a great stage today, nothing like yesterday which was really bad for us. We got just one puncture today unlike some other cars which got more than one. It was a clean run for us, not so easy navigation but we did a very good job today. »
Nasser Al-Attiyah: « Today was not easy for everybody and we had four punctures to deal with. This cost us a lot of time because we’re only allowed to carry two spare tyres in the car. At least we got to the finish line and now we’re back in the bivouac we’ll talk to the engineer to find a solution for tomorrow. »
Carlos Sainz: « It was another positive day. We had no problems which is the most important thing. It was a difficult day of navigation, there was one place especially where we were losing a bit of time. The most important thing is that the car is running perfectly. »
Stéphane Peterhansel: « It’s been a tough start to the rally but this is good, it lets us check that the car is where we need it to be. We didn’t do a perfect stage, we had a puncture and we got lost twice. It was also really dusty so it was not easy to overtake the cars in front of us. »
Toby Price: « Stage 2 has gone good and we’re sitting well in the overall. It was a difficult day for navigation among the rocks, camel grass and dunes. When you’re in that moment and trying to race, it’s quite hard. But we came out of it all with a good result and no big issues. The bike’s going really good. I’m feeling fresh for tomorrow so we’ll wait and see what’s to come. »
Kevin Benavides: « I really pushed all day today. I felt really good on the bike and all the work we’re doing with the team is amazing. It was tough to get past a few riders so I ended up eating dust for more than 100km. I lost some time at the end, but I finished second so it’s not been a bad day. »
Sam Sunderland: « It was another really tough day on broken terrain. I made a few mistakes in the first 100km. Then after the refuelling I had a little reset and was feeling good. At times the navigation became a bit of casino as we were left searching for a needle in a haystack. »
Chaleco López: « That’s the second day of Rallye du Maroc finished. We came second in our category to maintain first place overall. Our gap now to second place is 10 minutes, but we won’t rest because there are still many more days of racing to come. »
Seth Quintero: « We kept up our amazing pace until about 30 kilometres from the finish where we had trouble finding a blind waypoint. We probably lost around 25 minutes there. It is what it is, we’re going to keep fighting until the end and put in a hard charge tomorrow. »
Cristina Gutiérrez: « During the stage there have been critical moments of navigation but the most important thing is to know how to find each other as soon as possible to avoid wasting a lot of time. I’m happy because it’s the first time in OT3 with Pablo and we’re going from less to more! »
Guillaume de Mevius: « We’ve won Stage Two and we’re very happy. The result is a little bit of a surprise because we had to stop for one puncture and one little brake problem. François navigated really well and we didn’t get lost once. »
Mitch Guthrie Jr.: « The beginning of the stage was really rocky so we played it pretty safe to get through that. Once things opened up we let our OT3 run and we started chasing people down. Just at the end we had some navigation difficulties which cost us some time, but overall a pretty clean day. »
Christine Fial,