THE RACE IS ON IN MOROCCO!
Round 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.
Pablo Quintanilla 7
“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.”
Adrien Van Beveren
“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. ”
José Ignacio “Nacho” Cornejo 11
“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. ”
Ricky Brabec 9
“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!”
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 | 1 | ARG | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | 01h02m24s.2 |
| 4 | Howes Skyler | 10 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | 01h02m32s.8 |
| 5 | Van Beveren Adrien | FRA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | 01h02m40s.9 | |
| 8 | Quintanilla Pablo | 7 | CHI | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | 01h03m52s.4 |
| 13 | Brabec Ricky | 9 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | 01h04m48s.9 |
| 18 | Cornejo José Ignacio "Nacho" | 11 | CHI | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | 01h06m32s.1 |
Location Information
Morocco has always been a land of rally raid. The story began in 1982 with the arrival of Paris-Agadir, the first rally raid to run in Morocco. The following year, the rally took the name of ‘Atlas Rally’ and became the flagship rally to the Rally Raids calendar. The Atlas… read more.
| Winner 2023 | Toby Price (KTM) |
| Winner 2022 | Skyler Howes (Husqvarna) |
| Winner 2021 | Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) |
| Winner 2020 | Cancelled due the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| Winner 2019 | Toby Price (KTM) |
| Winner 2018 | Toby Price (KTM) |
| Winner 2017 | Matthias Walkner (KTM) |
| Winner 2016 | Toby Price (KTM) |
| Winner 2015 | Sam Sunderland (KTM) |
| Winner 2014 | Marc Coma (KTM) |
| Winner 2013 | Paulo Gonçalves (Honda) |
| Winner 2012 | Cyril Despres (KTM) |
Agadir, Morocco - View in Google Maps
