Brabec has always seemed to have the speed to compete at this level...its if his Honda holds together that is the question...
Looked like Brabec benefited immensly from this rally. He made trail on stage 4 and his starting positions on the others varied. Also sounded like the navigation thru the dunes was the difference. I believe he has the speed and once his navigation skills are on par he will be a legitimate contender to win Dakar. Getting a stage win as well as a podium in the final rankings certainly doesn't hurt his confidence level either.
And there you go... Nasser and Loeb did not attend the prize giving... At the finish ramp Emma Clair (of the NPO - race organizers for Morocco) asked Nasser to remove his car and put it into park ferme, obstructed photographers and press and tried to shoo them away from Nasser. NPO says that FIA staff helped Nasser to win and that NPO do not agree with the final race results. Nasser threw out his medal. This is due to events at day 2 when the race was cut short... Overdrive and some other teams insisted on calculating the days results at factual stop at the river crossing (river flooded and most drivers agreed it was impossible to cross), Peugeot insisted on CP1 results. FIA took Overdrive stance - which benefited everyone, but not Sainz who had mechanical issues and not Loeb who was having navigation issues and hence both had times behind Nasser. NPO now says this was done to allow Overdrive to win and gave Nasser unfair advantage. Morocco might now be out of WorldCup next year. Also rumor is - NPO sold the rights to the race before 017 edition so they didn't care much. BTW Sven Quandt did not take part in any of discussions about day 2 as he had no clear benefit. On top - almost everyone complained about car roadbook on day 5 - people even said it was done by someone other than the person who did previous days. And Elisabete Jacinto spent 3 days with her truck stranded in the desert without help from the organizers...
Very good info GEO. Also in bikes a big mess, just look at Ricky Bravec comments: Ricky Brabec STAGE: 14th OVERALL: 4th Today I had to open the track over the first kilometres. Then we rode in a group until the end. It was a short stage. The roadbook was tough in the morning. The sand dunes were good. The stage was really fun but it’s hard to go race when you know that KTM get their own way. They have a really good spokesperson for FIM and towards the rally organisation. To keep racing after they get their own way every single day is tough for us. We keep fighting and we keep doing well and we can win. But when Honda wins KTM have something to say. It’s not good. It hasn’t been a good rally for us. They do something wrong they capitalize on it and get their time back. They miss a waypoint - they get their time back. They get stuck in the water - they get their time back. We go one kph over the speed limit - they give us a one minute penalty. It’s a little BS for us. It’s not fun and it’s not racing for us. It’s hard to race each day like that. Tomorrow is the last day and we’ll fight for a win. Afterwards, penalties went back to Qintanilla, who anyhow grabbed the World title by just 3 points to Kevin Benavides, who was finally second. Really big mess up but as you comment, sportingwise, consider times until the river crossing looked like the most reasonable. On the other hand, the Sporting Authotrity is the FIA. NPO should not have any intervention on it, and clearly cannot proceede as you mention. Nasser won the rally, as per FIA results which are the only ones valid.
Race was sold to David Castera...reports from photogs I spent time with last year agree it was a mess...
"I don't care about FIA or FIM - this is my rally and I make the rules..." and a great hashtag #greedyemma
Problem is that she had chosen the rally to be part of FIA and FIM calendars, had she rejected or nor requested that, it would have been a very different case.
Concensus among a few I’ve talked to is that the problems started at the top and now worries are the FIA and FIM after action reports will be bad enough for them to lose their spot in the championships in ‘18 Sent from my iPhone using race-deZert
Etape 1 - action starts at 6.30 Loeb into ditch around 7.40 minute mark. Etape 2 Etape 3 (Brabec 1.30 - stomach ailment?) 8.11 - water sequence
Etape 4 Maroc '17 6.40 Hilux and Peugeot - fast sequence in dunes Etape 5 Paraplegic guy on the motorcycle....4.54 Etape 6 Peugeot drives over the camera showing the underside at 3.30
David Castera organise un Rallye du Maroc liberté ! David Castera promises 2 absolutely separate routes for cars and bikes, optional electronic roadbook for first timers, trail event parallel to race. and no more #greedyemma
