Hero MotoSports Team Rally are off to a great start at the 2021 Rallye Du Maroc after all their three riders finished in the top five in the opening Prologue Stage and Joaquim Rodrigues taking the victory. The rally is set in the country of Morocco with the North Atlantic Ocean on the far horizon. The rally is divided into five stages and with Zagora being the center point to all the routes. With that let us look into how the opening stage panned out for the Indian team.
J-Rod was the first to go out on the 10km Prologue Stage loop piloting the Hero Rally 450 bike and even after a careful drive through the course, he managed to finish eight seconds over Toby Price (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and finished first in the stage. By winning the Prologue Stage, Joaquim will open the first stage that will put his navigation skills to the test.
Sebastian Buhler and Franco Caimi rode the stage with caution as they wanted to find a good rhythm and wanted to complete the course without any mistakes. By the end of the stage, Caimi came in fourth and Buhler finished fifth, just four seconds behind Caimi.
On the Prologue Stage results, team boss Wolfgang Fischer expressed, “We are here in Morocco for the start of the Rallye du Maroc, which is one of the biggest races before the Dakar 2022. This event also has the highest participation from the top teams and riders who we will also see at the Dakar. In this race, everyone aims to be competitive, but also careful as there is not much time left for the Dakar. We expect a mix of terrain here, almost like a mini-Dakar, and navigation will be key as we are in a barren desert. It is exciting to see all our riders in Top-5 in the Prologue, with another stage win for JRod. We are looking forward to a good race.”
For the first full stage on Saturday, riders will cover 288km of Special Stage through hardcore desert conditons. In total, the riders will complete 441km on Saturday, and will have to cover 1630kms of special stages over the next five days. But with J-Rod starting first on Saturday, the terrain will be largely unmarked and unexplored, making navigation difficult. The 2021 Rallye Du Maroc will also act as a test bed for the much awaited Dakar 2022 Rally which is the crown jewel of the motorcycle rally calendar.