- 4 hours ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:03Welcome to the land of the rally raid, Morocco.
00:10Ready to ride, like always.
00:15Challenging the world's finest drivers and riders for more than 20 years in some of the toughest desert sands.
00:27Zagora, known as the gateway to the Sahara, close to the west coast of Africa, was the rally hub.
00:34From where 250 vehicles, over five days of competition, would start and finish.
00:40Five stages, totalling more than two and a half thousand kilometres.
00:52Sunny Morocco. The terrain here is really special.
00:55It's a really nice atmosphere here.
00:58With 70% of the rally and open desert, navigation would play a decisive role.
01:03The challenges here, try not to get lost because there is some really tough navigation.
01:09Lose track, lose time, lose ground in the quest for world championship glory.
01:19Whatever the category, cars, bikes, trucks, side-by-side vehicles or quads.
01:29The demands remain the same, which made the beating heart of rally raid, the bivouac, even more essential.
01:35The rollercoaster hours on the road and in the stages call for painstaking preparation to make a home from home.
01:42Elevator going up, up another level.
01:45Yeah, I'm what they want, give them what they want.
01:49I give them thrills.
01:52I got thrills, I got thrills.
01:58I got thrills, I got thrills.
02:05Unlike the Dakar rally, this Morocco bivouac stays in one place, with all roads returning to this hive of activity
02:12each night to repair and prepare for the next day's competition.
02:17For teams like KTM Factory Racing, it's the nerve center of their rally strategy.
02:22But the team behind the team goes to work.
02:25Servus, I'm Michael. I'm at the rally department since 2004.
02:29I was doing already 18 Dakar, so that's quite a lot.
02:33We are carrying everything we need for the rally, so that means that's quite a lot of material.
02:40Without what he's doing, no chance to be here, because without him we have nothing.
02:44We have no tents, we have no food, we have no bikes, we have no parts.
02:53Everything has its own place.
02:55Yeah, we basically bring everything you need.
02:57Here we have a bathroom with a shower for the long hot days.
03:05Each rider getting a new front and rear tire every day.
03:11It's not just about tires and tents. The team needs regular refueling with food.
03:16Every day we go shopping here, and it's always a little bit of a challenge.
03:23So, shopping paradise, it's a quarter.
03:28Hello, good morning.
03:30We need some avocados.
03:33Then we need tomatoes.
03:36And onion.
03:39We have more or less a pasta, a sauce.
03:43Now you can offer us a good price?
03:45Yes, good price.
03:46Good price.
03:47For another team, inshallah.
03:48Okay, inshallah.
03:49With inshallah, I think everything is working here.
03:52More or less.
04:04Awesome.
04:10Awesome job, Max.
04:13The opening stage on day one was run over 288 kilometres, a taster for bigger challenges that lay ahead.
04:23The calm before the storm.
04:28As officials and competitors went through their final routines and rituals.
04:37Fueled for action and ready to go.
04:39The bikes setting off first.
04:43Then came a statement of intent from Nasser Al-Attia in the car class.
04:48He and his French co-driver, Mathieu Boumel, have won the event five times.
04:52And their expertise shone throughout the day.
05:03We try here always to do our best because the Morocco rally is one of the difficulties.
05:09In the side-by-side race, Cristina Gutierrez in the Red Bull off-road junior team was looking to retain
05:15her title lead in the T3 category for the FIA World Cup for Cross Country rallies.
05:20The Spaniard dominated the stage, aiming for her third win of the season.
05:27The navigation was perfect.
05:29We did a very good stage.
05:31This car is very nice and tricky zones and very narrow zones.
05:35This car is the best, so we are happy.
05:46This place is very nice for me because it's the history of Dakar and it's a very important moment for
05:54me.
05:55Especially because we had an injury four months ago and I need to be comfortable inside the car with the
06:02new seat.
06:05For me it was very nice the shake down because I feel very comfortable, very safe.
06:12Because sometimes it's scary but I need to get into the car and feel the real sensation.
06:21My name is Lara. I am a personal assistant of Cristina and also a friend.
06:28And in this type of sport I think that women and men can be very equal and that's why we
06:34need to be in the same level.
06:40She always wants to learn a lot. Life is learning day by day, so I like this type of philosophy
06:46in life.
06:46We can be together more strong. That's what I think.
06:53Before the Dakar last year, Arno had contact to do a test with Chris.
07:00I jumped with her and after day one, it was already a good cooperation.
07:06Since I don't imagine this year without her.
07:12I am in the team later than Francois, but I feel very comfortable with Francois.
07:17He's a very nice guy. He knows everything about the rally ride, so for me it's very nice to compete
07:24with him.
07:32Stage two, just over 330 kilometers, featured the majestic dunes of Erg Cheby.
07:38Some of them soaring skywards up to 150 meters high.
07:42Nothing beats experience and for all his years of motorsport success, Matthias Ekstrom, in his mini JCW rally, knows he
07:50has so much to learn in the desert.
07:53That was a big surprise for me. I've never seen so big dunes in my life and I'm most happy
08:00that we didn't get stuck.
08:01It feels like I'm a real rookie when I go in these areas.
08:05In contrast, Nasser Al-Attiyah stayed out of trouble and out in front.
08:09With a co-driver as skilled as Mathieu Bommel, he takes some catching.
08:18From last year, we don't have anymore the paper roadbook.
08:22And all this now is set on this digital roadbook, where we have on the top of the screen all
08:27the navigational information.
08:30So the distance, the gap, the speed and whatever.
08:33And then the second part is our roadbook for the day.
08:38So we have now a remote control and we can mark the box we passed already.
08:46And then I can move forward on the roadbook and to see the different drawing and try to explain the
08:53best as possible to Nasser what to do.
08:57Two minds make cars go fast in rally raids, but for Matthias Wachner, the 2015 Cross Country Rallys World Champion,
09:04it's a one-man show.
09:07I really try all in, keep pushing all day long.
09:11In the end it works out. It feels good to be in a stage.
09:17Wachner is the only rider in KTM's star-studded line-up not using the all-new 450 rally bike.
09:26Toby Price, along with new teammate Kevin Benavides, was taking his first chance to test the new challenger under race
09:32conditions.
09:42Behind me you can see the next beauty.
09:46We are excited to get it out of the testing time into race time.
09:52Mostly I think 80% is new on that bike.
09:55It's a two-year process, a lot of input from the riders is coming.
10:00The first impression here was quite positive.
10:04The bike is in a good position, so yeah, everything is, it feels much lighter this bike and a little
10:10bit easier to ride in the tight and technical sections.
10:13And this is what we've strived out for and I think we've achieved it.
10:21Yeah, I have a relationship with my bike, you know, it's bike, me and also on the way, you know.
10:29So for me always it's really important to feel the bike and the connection.
10:35At the end we are alone in the desert, a lot of hours.
10:41So it's very important to have the confidence with your bike.
10:46Well, it's a lot of passion. I think we want to win races or I want to win races.
10:51For sure, for the team, it's clear, this is the goal.
10:57Stage 3 was fast and furious on a mix of sandy and stony tracks.
11:02And 19-year-old Seth Quintero, teammate to Cristina Gutierrez, was all that and more.
11:08I just like to listen to music, hang out, have a good time, no stress.
11:12The more you stress, the slower you go.
11:19The American overtook 39 vehicles on the stage, setting the fastest T3 time.
11:25I had a lot of fun. Every time you pass a car, you wake up, you're like, all right, let's
11:28go get another one.
11:29And I just kept counting in my head, I'm like, all right, I think we ended up making like 39
11:32passes, which was absolutely nuts.
11:36He hates why I love him.
11:39This was no Californian dreaming.
11:41Remember, he became the youngest stage winner on the Dakar in January.
11:44Here we are, end of day three and getting that win.
11:48Stage four involved the biggest mileage of the rally, 367 kilometers.
11:55And showed the flip side to Quintero's stellar drive as Gutierrez suffered a broken gearbox.
12:02100% frustrating.
12:05It crushed her chance of victory in Morocco.
12:07That means that maybe I can take a little points for the championship and nothing more.
12:12Despite Quintero's best efforts to help with repairs.
12:15I just kind of drove as fast as I could, but as smart as I could to get to her,
12:18because obviously I want to be there for her if anything happens.
12:20It was her race to win, and of course I want to be there, so.
12:23It's frustrating, but it's the life, it's like this.
12:40Meanwhile, drama was unfolding among the bikes as Matthias Valkner seized his chance to regain the lead for KTM on
12:46this the longest day.
12:48But even the Austrian had no answer to his Australian friend and rival Daniel Sanders,
12:53who danced through the desert for the fastest time and third place overall.
13:21It wasn't the best, but it was okay to win.
13:24It was a good season.
13:26Huh?
13:26Thanks.
13:27Do you slay us there?
13:27You slay us there?
13:28Good idea.
13:32One good day is no guarantee of another the next.
13:35The stresses and strains of these shifting sands take their toll on bodies, human and mechanical.
13:43Both need careful management in expert hands, especially the night before the rally's final chapter with big points on the
13:50line.
13:53It was too rough for the 4th bar 4 today.
13:58Looks like you need a small service.
14:00Yeah.
14:01I will manage because I have you, you can help.
14:06You know, this is the technique we are teaching the girls when they get birthed.
14:11Ah, okay.
14:14Then it's helping.
14:18Yeah.
14:23The final stage was the shortest of the rally, 166 kilometres over similar terrain to stage one.
14:34This was D-Day, when winners would be decided and champions possibly crowned.
14:43As ever, time was tight, a matter of minutes, for the competitors to figure out the roadbook
14:49and the demands of the stage.
14:51And the demands of the stage.
15:19It would confirm him as the FIM 2021 Cross Country Rally's world champion.
15:24Reward for a complete team effort.
15:42Just ride safely to the finish and in the end was also more to lose than to win and I'm
15:48super happy with the second place and to win the overall championship.
15:53Daniel Sanders stayed right on the pace to give Gas Gas Factory Racing their first ever podium in the championship.
15:58And he'll race again in November, aiming to finish runner up behind Valkner.
16:03This Morocco race was really cool.
16:06All the good guys were here.
16:07It was really cool to beat some of these guys and it gives me a lot of confidence going into
16:12Dakar.
16:12I've got three months to keep charging and keep training and I know I can be up the front.
16:18In the car category, Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Bommel ruled supreme.
16:25Not even Dakar winner Kuba Prishkonski could keep pace on the final day in his new two-wheel drive Mini.
16:33As Al-Attiyah moved ever closer to a fifth world title.
16:39We feel very strong and I am sure next Dakar will be good for us because we have a lot
16:45of experience.
17:08What?
17:13I know in the middle of the road.
17:22In the end in between.
Comments