The Race Is On In Morocco!
Rally of MoroccoRound three of the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship is on! Competition started today at Rallye Du Maroc near Agadir with a 9-kilometer special stage of sandy and sinuous track. Adrien Van Beveren was the fastest rider among Monster Energy Honda Team.
The waiting is over! Rallye Du Maroc 2022 has started today in Agadir with the small special stage (SSA1). Like expected, Monster Energy Honda Team was at the starting line with four CRF450 RALLY bikes. The one trusted to Pablo Quintanilla (Chile) was certainly in the spotlight, since he won here last year. Ricky Brabec (USA), José Ignacio Cornejo (Chile) and Adrien Van Beveren (France) completed the quartet. Adrien – who was fourth in the last Dakar – is doing here his first race with Honda.
Breaking the ice, this SSA1 was mainly seen by riders in a strategic way. So it’s no surprise not many wanted to be in a position to open tomorrow’s stage. Van Beveren was 6th, Quintanilla 8th, Brabec 13th and Cornejo 18th.
This Sunday is time for the real start of the competition, with the first stage leaving Agadir to the south landscapes of Morocco. Day starts early with a 241 kilometres laiason, followed by 316 kilometres of special stage. Destination: Tan Tan. Combining hard and soft tracks, navigation is expected to have a great importance in this kick-of.
The stage was quite demanding and technical. For me the priority was to make it without loosing to much time and making little mistakes. Tomorrow we are already racing in the desert and that is the time to attack.
Today I had my first race with Honda, so I was really excited and happy to ride the CRF450 Rally. I know I did some mistakes, but it’s ok – I release the pressure and I am ready for the first stage. The route was amazing, just the way I like – it was sunny and nice. So SSA1 is done and we have a good position for tomorrow so I am sure we will do our best.
The race has finally started and I felt good today. I was cautious and the result is a consequence. Anyway I think we are in the right direction to do a solid and consistent race, being able at the same time to minimize mistakes.
This SSA was not the best for me, but we made it to the end. We didn’t do the right thing by stopping, because that was not long enough, so now it looks like tomorrow we’re starting in the front. It is what it is, we have five days racing – it’s a long race ahead of us – so let’s have some fun!
2022 Season Saturday, October 1st 2022
Prologue Round WORLD4 Rallye du Maroc 2022
Provisional Classification of Qualifying Stage Agadir > Agadir
Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | EVAN BRANCH Ross | 16 | BWA | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | 1h01m28s |
2 | PRICE Toby | 18 | AUS | Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team | KTM | 01h02m08s.9 |
3 | BENAVIDES Luciano | 77 | ARG | Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing | Husqvarna | 01h02m24s.2 |
4 | HOWES Skyler | 5 | USA | Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing | Husqvarna | 01h02m32s.8 |
5 | VAN BEVEREN Adrien | FRA | Monster Energy Honda Team | Honda | 01h02m40s.9 | |
8 | QUINTANILLA Pablo | 7 | CHI | Monster Energy Honda Team | Honda | 01h03m52s.4 |
13 | BRABEC Ricky | 2 | USA | Monster Energy Honda Team | Honda | 01h04m48s.9 |
18 | CORNEJO José Ignacio | 11 | CHI | Monster Energy Honda Team | Honda | 01h06m32s.1 |
