Rallye du Maroc, Stage 1A: Al-Attiyah and Baumel are present

“The essence of rally-raid”, the nickname found by David Castera at Rally du Maroc which it has been organizing since 2018, began its 2022 edition with a very brief stage 1A which had all the makings of a prologue this Saturday, October 1: 9 km on the outskirts of Agadir, without major navigation difficulties.

Sur un terrain sablonneux à souhait, les vainqueurs du dernier Dakar, Nasser Al-Attiyah et Mathieu Baumel (Toyota), ont été les plus prompts à se mettre en jambes. Le duo phare du Toyota Gazoo Racing a terminé avec 8 secondes de marge sur Yazeed Al-Rajhi et Dirk von Zitzewitz (Toyota).

Leaders of the World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC) for a small point before this third meeting of the season, Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin (BRX) finished 13 seconds behind their rivals for the title.

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Three @prodrive Hunters in the top five after the first stage of the @MarocRally, all powered by sustainable fuel.

Tomorrow the rally gets into its stride with 322 kilometers southwards towards Tan-Tan.

We're GO!#teambahrain#RallyeduMorocco@OfficialW2RC pic.twitter.com/gJJ5zNRmDS

- Bahrain Raid Xtreme (@BRaidXtreme) October 1, 2022

“We were the first car on the track, so we had to find the best way to go through the stage, but in the end we had a very good stage with the car, declared Sébastien Loeb. Nasser was very fast, as always in a prologue, but we had a good, clean stage, so we are satisfied with this day.

The choice of starting positions tomorrow (Sunday) is tricky because we know that navigation will be difficult and being the first on the road is a bit risky. However, on the other hand, being behind slower cars can also be dangerous because there will be dust, so we will make a plan now. »

Registered for the first time aboard a BRX Hunter T1+ built by Prodrive, Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq reassured themselves with the fourth fastest time (+15''). In T3 (modified SSV), the young American Seth Quintero (Red Bull OT3) finished ahead of his teammate Guillaume de Mévius by 3 seconds.

Where have the Audis gone, despite being announced as the new features of this 2022 Rally of Morocco? They are in fact not present in the FIA ​​class due to the 2023 homologation of the new RS Q e-tron Evo2, but compete in the Open category.

Polling for the 2022 @MarocRally with our three new Audi RS Q e-tron* cars.

>> https://t.co/i5Tnh0PJ97#FutureIsAnAttitude #RallyeduMorocco #RoadToDakar2023 #RSQetron pic.twitter.com/HJvSsl0zzo

- Audi Sport (@audisport) October 1, 2022

Relegated behind the monstrous trucks in this prologue, the German hybrid vehicles finished around thirty seconds behind the FIA ​​thermal T1+ (Mattias Ekström 8'02'', Stéphane Peterhansel 8'06'' and Carlos Sainz 8'08'').

On Sunday, the serious things will begin, with more than 300 km of special between Agadir and Tan Tan, in an area crossed by the Paris Dakar until 2007. “It won’t be an easy start” announced David Castera.

ALSO READ > Audi approaches Rally Morocco without pressure

Rallye du Maroc 2022 ranking – Stage 1A: