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Morocco Rally: Chicherit extends lead as Loeb struggles on a day of mixed fortunes for Bahrain Raid Xtreme

After another impressive display alongside Alex Winocq in their Prodrive Hunter, Chicherit carries an overall advantage of 9min, 57 secs from Orly Terranova and his BRX co-driver Alex Haro into the final leg.

Sebastien Loeb

Bengaluru, October 6: Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit extended his lead in the Rallye Du Maroc, the penultimate round of FIA World Rally-Raid (W2RC) Championship on a day of mixed fortunes for Bahrain Raid Xtreme (BRX) as most of the Dakar heavyweights made their moves.

After another impressive display alongside Alex Winocq in their Prodrive Hunter, Chicherit carries an overall advantage of 9min, 57 sec from Orlando Terranova and his BRX co-driver Alex Haro into Thursday's (October 6) final leg.

Terranova produced another solid drive to set the day's fourth fastest time.

Morocco Rally: Chicherit grabs lead as Al Attiyah wins stage; Loeb battles to keep Bahrain Raid Xtreme on topMorocco Rally: Chicherit grabs lead as Al Attiyah wins stage; Loeb battles to keep Bahrain Raid Xtreme on top

But hopes of a Prodrive Hunter outright 1-2-3 for a third day were disrupted by mechanical issues which dropped his BRX team-mate and W2RC leader, Sebastien Loeb, out of contention.

Saudi Arabia's Yazeed Al Rajhi in a Toyota Hilux was the stage winner from Chicherit, although he lies a distant 40min, 48sec off the lead in fourth position.

Al Attiyah third overall

Al Attiyah third overall

Qatar's Nasser Al Attiyah, Loeb's major rival in the world title race, recorded the third fastest time in another Toyota Hilux and is placed third overall. But he lies more than 28min away from Chicherit, with a gap of almost 19min to Terranova.

The penultimate stage was the longest of the rally, and the most spectacular, unwinding across a variety of tracks and mountainous terrain to deliver the survivors to the overnight bivouac in the desert town of Tan-Tan.

Chicherit quickest

Chicherit quickest

Once again it was Chicherit who set off quickest, showing his liking for the Prodrive Hunter and underlining his belief that he can only get faster in a car he is driving competitively for the first time.

After the first 89kms, he was 30sec ahead of Al Rajhi on the stage, 2min, 13sec in front of Al Attiyah, and 4min, 34sec ahead of Loeb.

Loeb runs out of luck

Loeb runs out of luck

It was this stage, however, that Loeb ran completely out of luck when he was halted by mechanical issues, while still holding fourth place on the day and was in danger of not finishing the stage.

A fascinating battle for victory on the day continued to the end, meanwhile, with Al Rajhi finally edging Chicherit by 1min, 30sec. A final stage of 290 kms from Tan-Tan delivers the survivors to the finish in Agadir on Thursday. Game on! Bring it on!

Heading to dunes

Heading to dunes

We have already seen plenty of drama across the categories as racers go for the W2RC points. Let us head out to dunes to see which Dakar contenders are making their mark on the sands of Morocco.

An elite band of drivers had headed to North Africa intent on dominate the dunes. After five days of action, it is down to the final stretch at the 2022 Rallye du Maroc!

Story first published: Thursday, October 6, 2022, 12:42 [IST]
Other articles published on Oct 6, 2022