Branch and Al Atiyah win the Morocco Rally Prologue.Sainz, stay away

Botswana ross branch heromotorcycles, Qatar Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota Kazoo Racing), By car, I recorded my best time in the prologue this Saturday morocco rally, Contested in Agadir on a 9-kilometer timed route that will determine the starting order for the first stage between Agadir and Tintin this Sunday.

On two wheels, Ross Branch set a winning time of 1:01.28 to earn first contact with the race, which runs until Thursday 6th October.

The Hero Motorsport rider finished with a winning time of 1:01.28, beating Australia’s Toby Price (Red Bull KTM Factory Team) by 40/100 and Argentina’s Luciano Benavidez (Husqvarna) by 56.

Defending champion Kevin Benavidez (Red Bull KTM Factory Team) of Argentina finished 12th, one ahead of current World Championship leader Briton Sam Sunderland (GasGas Factory Racing).

Sunderland is a big favorite after winning the previous Dakar and Abu Dhabi Desert Challenges. He leads the overall standings by 17 points over Chile’s Pablo Quintanilla (Monster Energy Honda), with Skyler Howes (Husqvarna) fourth and Adrian van Beveren (Honda) in the Moroccan prologue this Saturday. ) was fifth.

In cars, Al-Attiyah was fastest in the prologue, beating Saudi Yasser Al Raj (Overdrive Racing) and French. Sebastian Loeb (Bahrain Raid Extreme).

In the Open SSV category, the new Audi RS Q e-tron Evo2 debuted alongside Matthias Ekström of Sweden and Matthias Ekström of France. Stephen Peterhansel and spanish Carlos Sainzin that order, finished 30 seconds behind the best time in the T1 class, making a timid debut before the long stage this Sunday.

Audi participates in a specific category, the Open SSV class, so it will not be ranked alongside rival T1.

The total route of the Morocco Rally is 2,233 km, with 1,506 km of time specials. This Sunday’s stage is 557 kilometers long, 316 of which are timed.