Morocco Rally, Stage 1 – Al-Attiyah charges, Loeb well placed

Rally of Morocco 2023 – Ranking Stage 1:

General classification :

• We must not annoy Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel (Toyota). Victims of a brief alternator failure during the Prologue of the Morocco Rally (unless they wanted to slow down voluntarily so as not to open the track the next day), the Qatari-French crew pulled out all the stops on this first stage between Agadir and Zagora, contested over 313 km timed.
• Despite a disadvantageous starting position (38th, behind many T3 and SSV), the Toyota Hilux T1+ of the leaders of the World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC) was impressively easy on a special which included the Erg Chegaga, a passage of around ten terminals in the dunes. Winners of the day, Al-Attiyah-Baumel take the lead of the event with a 2'19" margin over Yazeed Al-Rajhi-Timo Gottschalk (Overdrive).
• Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) have regained their bearings after five and a half months away from W2RC. The Alsatian star recorded the 3rd best time, this is also his rank in the general classification, only 3'38" behind the leaders.
• The gaps are still slim, because there are still four stages to go in this W2RC 2023 final. Note the presence of the two Audi RS Q e-tron hybrids in the top 10, those of Carlos Sainz and Stéphane Peterhansel, for their first W2RC race since the Dakar last January.
• Winner of the Prologue on Friday, Mattias Ekström (Audi) quickly lost ground in this first “real” day of competition. The Swede has lost more than half an hour and already finds himself outside the top 10. The track rider still has progress to make.

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