Before setting off on Saturday towards the Sahara for the first stage of the Rallye du Maroc, it was time this Friday for a prologue of 19 km of special around Agadir. In cars, it was the Swede Mattias Ekström (Audi) who was the fastest (10’19”), just ahead of his teammate Stéphane Peterhansel (10’23, +4”), who returned with his co-pilot Édouard Boulanger, ten months after their accident on the Dakar. The Saudi Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Toyota) completes this leading trio (10’28”, +9”).
Winner of the 2022 Morocco Rally at the wheel of a Hunter, Guerlain Chicherit took fourth place in the prologue for his first with Toyota (10’32”, +13”). A little further behind, Sébastien Loeb (BRX) settled for the twelfth time of the day (10’54”, +35”). More surprisingly, the Qatari Nasser al-Attiyah and his French co-driver Mathieu Baumel, who are competing in their last race with Toyota in Morocco, took an anonymous 38th place (11’54”, +1’35”).
In motorcycles, it was the Spaniard Tosha Schareina, surprise winner of the Desafío Ruta 40 in September, who won this inaugural outing. The Honda driver, who is not part of the official team and is not entered in the World Championship, completed the prologue in 11’3”, the same time as the American Ricky Brabec (Honda). But the Spaniard was declared the winner by a few tenths of a second. The Botswanan Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) completes the podium (11’5”, +2”).
Howes did not complete the prologue
Note the fall of title holder Skyler Howes. For his first with Honda, the former Husqvarna rider made a mistake and did not complete the 19 km special. Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna), leader of the World Championship, set the seventh time (11’27”, +24”) while Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) was content with 11th place (11 ’48”, +45”).
The 236 vehicles entered for this 24th edition of the Rallye du Maroc will set off on Saturday morning at dawn from Agadir for a first stage of 708 km (including 311 km of special) to reach Zagora.
