Women rankings in 2022 Rally du Maroc after Stage 3 in T3, T4, and Bike categories have produced top results. Leading the charge of females competing in 2022 World Rally Raid Championship Round 3 at Morocco is Red Bull Off Road Junior Team driver Cristina Gutierrez finishing P2 at end of Stage 3 in T3 category with co-driver Pablo Moreno Huete.
Consolidating their General standing in P3, Cristina raises level of performance with Portuguese driver Pamela Bozzano and co-driver Cadu Sachs finishing Stage 3 in P8 and ranked P13 in General classification. Spanish duo of Merce Marti and Rosa Romero Font completed Stage 3 in P14 with Annett Fischer and Annie Seel have much better run finishing Day 3 in P16.
It really has been 2 day’s of dealing with everything that can go wrong – with Annett and Annie sustaining 3 punctures in Stage 1b followed by breaking prop shaft in middle of desert in Stage 2, making switch to 2wd near impossible in deep sand dunes.
In spirit of racing the World’s pinnacle of Rally Championship, Annett and Annie were most humbled with the help from fellow competitors Joao Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro from Yamaha XRaid Team who not only stopped to help fix their car, but in the words of Annett – f#%&@ up their own race to follow us back to the finish.
Rounding out women competing in T3 category is Dutch pair of Anja Loon and Lisette Bakker in P21 with American Amy Lerner and Belgium co-driver Sara Bossaert in P28. Australian Molly Taylor had stellar race in Stage 2 finishing P4 with America’s legend Motocross rider Andrew Short in co-driver seat, coupled with P7 at end of Stage 3 to bring the pair’s ranking to P5 in General classification.
Mirjam Pol had mire of day in Stage 2, clocking time penalty for missing wayward point, only to make up for mistake by finishing in P17 at end of Stage 3. As Mirjam states: ‘it was a tough day today, which we were warned about. It was very warm again but today the wind added to that as well. You couldn’t stand on the bike and staying seated wasn’t really an option either because you don’t want to catch the hits of the stones. It’s dangerous, but I managed to get through it.
The dunes were broken at the back and then you can’t estimate the descent. I wanted to get to my own pace today and then the speed will come naturally. I did drive well, but didn’t push unnecessarily, that was too dangerous. After the dunes, the terrain became fast, up to the tank stop. At one point I could drive from dust cloud to dust cloud. The dust didn’t bother me today because it was blowing so hard, every cloud of dust disappeared’.
Spanish multi-discipline rider Sandra Gomez completed Stages 1-3 in best possible form having recently spent 2 months recovering from Epstein Barr virus. How Sandra has managed to endure total of 15 hours, 19 minutes and 35 seconds on bike over 3 days has to be respected with current standing of P23 in Rally 2 General classification. Rounding out women competing in Bike category is French rider Sara Jugla finishing P81 at end of Stage 3.
Rally du Maroc Stage 4 October 5. Header photo: Cristina Gutierrez and Pablo Moreno Huete Image: Red Bull Off Road Junior Team.
Words: Sharon Cox.
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