Ricky Brabec
Friday the 13th was a mixed bag today at the last stop of the World Rally Raid Championship 2023 with the Rallye du Maroc! Americans are the top storylines as former Dakar winner Ricky Brabec blazed through the prologue in second place (with the same exact time as the stage leader), while defending Rallye du Maroc winner Skyler Howes had his HRC Rally Team debut derailed. The race started this morning with a 19-kilometer prologue closing in at the coastal city of Agadir. The Rally runs through October 18, with five stages and a total of 2221 km between Agadir and the dunes of Merzouga. Special stages will constitute 65% of the course — 1449 km of tough terrain.
“Fairly fast and slick today with a few gotchya’s,” tweeted Top American Brabec from the bivouac afterwards. “Unfortunately my teammate @skylerhowes110 had a get off at one of them. Not the sight we want to see fighting for a start position… Speedy recovery dude, tomorrow starts the rally!
The defending Rallye du Maroc winner Skyler Howes had his Honda debut destroyed in the prologue, unfortunately. “Not the post I want to make. Halfway through the prologue I hit a big hole in the sand. I didn’t think it would be bad but the back end stepped out and I went down hard. Just a good old fashion swap out yard sale. Right away I knew my race was over just as fast as it began. I have some pain in my back and knee, but the feeling and movement is all good so I’m hoping for the best outcome and quick recovery. Before this, I was feeling really good and putting in a fast prologue effort. I’m proud of the work we’ve done as a team and was feeling more than confident for a good result, but as things go, sometimes you’re the hammer and sometimes you’re the nail. I want to thank the @rallyteamhrc and @monsterenergy for putting in such hard work for me…”
Skyler Howes
BACK STORY
Morocco has always been a land of rally raid. The story began in 1982 with the arrival of Paris-Agadir, the first rally raid to run in Morocco. The following year, the rally took the name of ‘Atlas Rally’ and became the flagship rally to the Rally Raids calendar. The Atlas Rally saw the best drivers and teams in the discipline run.
The Atlas Rally, after having changed hands from the company Larivière to ASO, disappeared at the end of the 90’s. It was then reborn in 2000 as ‘Rallye du Maroc’, under the leadership of Cyril Neveu and Jean Christophe Pelletier. The rally immediately became the major Moroccan rally and welcomed again the elite of rally raid.
In 2007, the company NPO, organizer of the Rallye du Maroc, was sold to Emma and Stéphane Clair and became an event in the FIM World Championship and the FIA World Cup. After 10 years at the head of the event, NPO sold the Rallye du Maroc to the company ODC, led by David Castera.
