The FIA World Rally Raid Championship celebrated the end of the 2023 season with the Rally du Maroc in Morocco. Ignacio Casale and Alvaro Leon secured a very good fourth place in the T3 classification in the X-raid 1000R Turbo Side-by-Side. Pál Lónyai and Filippo Ippolito finished 27th in the side-by-side, while the MINI JCW Rally Plus crew of Krzysztof Holowczyc and Lukasz Kurzeja had no luck and finished 22nd in the T1 category.
For Casale and Leon, it was their first appearance in the X-raid 1000R Turbo since their start in the Dakar 2023. Nevertheless, the two were able to attack right from the start. On the six special stages, they were particularly convincing with their consistency. The side-by-side crew entered the rally without any major problems and ultimately secured fourth place overall in the T3 classification.
Ignacio Casale: “I am really happy about fourth place. It was a tough rally – beautiful tracks, but with a lot of stones and a lot of heat. The rally was a very good test for us and for the Dakar 2024. The X-raid team has done a great job with the side-by-side over the past months. The vehicle is fantastic and capable of attacking.”
For Holowczyc, the Rally du Maroc had more of a training character for the Dakar 2024. The final result with 22nd place does not reflect a possible placing for the pairing Holowczyc / Kurzeja. After a promising fifth place in the prologue, the duo fell victim to the extremely demanding route, as did many other top drivers and vehicles. Krzysztof joined the list of drivers like Al-Attiyah, Chicherit, Loeb, Peterhansel and Sainz who were hit by bad luck in this year’s edition of the Rallye du Maroc. Different problems prevented the Pole of the X-raid team from fighting for the front places. Krzysztof Holowczyc finished the rally in 22nd place in the MINI JCW Rally Plus.
Lónyai and Ippolito were also unlucky in the X-raid 1000R Turbo. They had to settle for 27th place at the finish.
Pál Lonyai: “We are very happy that we were able to finish this tough race. X-raid supported us very well and we were able to gain a lot of important experience for the future!”
For the X-raid team, the next few weeks will be spent preparing for the departure to the port in Barcelona at the end of November. From there, the race and service vehicles will be shipped to Saudi Arabia
Overall standings (T3-category)
1. M. Goczal / M. Marton – Taurus – 16h 22m 12s
2. S. Quintero / D. Zenz – Can-Am – 16h 37m 19s
3. C. Gutierrez / P. Moreno – Can-Am – 16h 43m 01s
4. I. Casale / A. Leon – X-raid 1000R Turbo – 17h 02m 20s
5. K. Koolen / W. Rosegaar – OT3 – 17h 15m 32s
…
27. P. Lónyai / F. Ippolito – X-raid 1000R Turbo – 58h 23m 03s
Overall standings (T1-category)
1. Y. Al-Rajhi / T. Gottschalk – Toyota – 14h 49m 09s
2. D. Krotov / K. Zhiltsov – Toyota – 15h 23m 26s
3. N. Roma / A. Haro – Ford – 15h 32m 12s
4. J. Yacopini / D. Oliveras – Toyota – 15h 46m 17s
5. E. Amos / P. Ceci – Toyota – 15h 49m 22s
…
22. K. Holowczyc / L. Kurzeja – MINI JCW Rally Plus – 35h 08m 22s
