Nobody, least of all, Joan Barrera, was prepared to hold back in this, the first of the Morocco Rally. The Spanish rider clearly set out to win. In spite of a slight initial error early on whilst crossing the Cheggaga dunes, the rider from Castellón clocked up the fastest times and finished the fastest overall, over three minutes ahead of the second place rival.
Paulo Goncalves headed off from a good starting position, although he had a tough job with the amount of dust generated by riders up ahead. In spite of this, he was able to keep up a fine pace, getting on extremely well with the CRF450 RALLY, and finishing in third, thus proving that the new bike is a force to be reckoned with.
After the first way-point there were three HRC riders, Barreda, Rodrigues and Goncalves, in the first three places. Given that we are only in the first of six stages of the Morocco Rally, Hélder Rodrigues decided not to take any risks. The Portuguese rider scored the fourth fastest time of the day at 6'13” from the winner Barreda.
Team HRC Argeninian rider Javier Pizzolito, finished in sixth place, and also had nothing but praise for the hardware that took him there. Pizzolito put in a very reliable performance, since his starting position also meant that he had to put up with a lot of the dust generated by the riders ahead. Sam Sunderland also put in a good performance without too much loss of time. He finished 11'09” behind Barreda, just 30 seconds after Pizzolito.
Joan Barreda
The truth is that I’m very pleased with the opening stage, and although there is still a long way to go, I managed to keep up a good rhythm and only made a slight mistake in the dunes. I had to go back one kilometre, but I was lucky enough that the arrow on the GPS opened up right away. After I was able to set a good steady pace.
TOMORROW STAGE
Stage 2 : From Jbel to Jbel
LIAISON : 49km – SELECTIVE SECTOR : 240km – LIAISON : 9km
A change of setting for the second stage. Participants will have technical tracks where the driver will have to be the smartest. After a few kilometres, they will cross the first Jbel to access the Zguilma fort at the top of the pass. The descent features many parallel tracks - Co-pilots be aware! After CP1, it is advised to check the Road book to find the passage to the second Jbel. From the top of the Jbel, the view is breath taking! Participants will not have the time to enjoy it, but photographers feel free! Then a narrow, twisting pass leads down to the oued. Finally, the last section will consist of more rapid, winding and technical tracks, which allow pilots to express themselves.
