Rally of Morocco – Broken exhaust, rut and dust: Sébastien Loeb takes stock of his race

You have to go far, very far, to find traces of Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) in the general classification of Rally of Morocco 2023. The Franco-Belgian duo reached the finish line at the foot of the Merzouga dunes in 51st place, the day after an unfinished stage with a broken suspension.

“This is not what we wanted to accomplish, recognizes the Alsatian. We came here wanting to fight for victory. We clearly saw that the speed was there. The podium was well within our reach. But the steps were not simple. »

Sébastien Loeb had the kindness to summarize his tumultuous Rally of Morocco. “The first day we spent all our time in the dust thrown up by the cars in front of us. Despite a few overtakes, I struggled and lost time on Nasser (Al-Attiyah). On the second day, my exhaust broke and that caused us to lose 2'30''.

We've given Seb's car the final checks before stage start. 🔧⚙️

And…some pure sound for you. #teambahrain pic.twitter.com/RXe25CYRqA

- Bahrain Raid Xtreme (@BRaidXtreme) October 17, 2023

Then, the third stage allowed us to attack, but so did the opponents, so the gaps were very small. And on the fourth day, we were having a great stage until I fell into a hole. Today, I took the fifth stage as a full-scale training session in the dunes for the Dakar. It was just for fun, because I was very far behind in the standings. »

ALSO READ > Rally of Morocco – Sébastien Loeb recounts his crash: “Pan, I fell into a crevasse”

The vice-champion W2RC 2022 concludes the year 2023 at the foot of the podium, but is optimistic for the big winter meeting, the Dakar 2024 (departure on January 5). “We know that our level of performance is satisfactory. We can also win stages if all the elements are on our side. This was not the case in Morocco but it is encouraging for the Dakar. »