Rally of Morocco – October 7-13, 2021
FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, round 4
For immediate release
Wednesday, October 13th, 2021
MONSTER ENERGY CAN-AM TEAM’S DOMZALA AND
JONES FINISH FIRST AND SIXTH IN MOROCCO
ZAGORA (MOROCCO): The Monster Energy Can-Am Team suffered mixed fortunes on the demanding six-day Rally of Morocco, with Poland’s Aron Domzala eventually securing a late victory and American Austin Jones slipping down to sixth in the FIA T4 category after challenging for the lead for several days.
Domzala and navigator Maciej Marton claimed two stage wins and gradually moved up the leader board, as the rally looped through the punishing deserts around the desert town of Zagora. When fellow countryman Michal Goczal suffered rear suspension damage after an impact on the final morning, Domzala was able to take advantage and claim outright victory.
Jones and Brazilian co-driver Gustavo Gugelmin overcame a puncture on the Qualifying Stage, moved up to second place and were challenging for the outright lead when transmission issues cost them a potential podium finish on the penultimate desert stage. The American bounced back on the final stage to seal sixth place.
Monster Can-Am Team principal Scott Abraham said: “It was a great result for Aron on his first event back in 2021 on his build-up to Dakar. Austin Jones came back well to claim valuable cross-country championship points after a mechanical failure yesterday.”
Action got underway with an 11.11km Qualifying Stage late on Friday afternoon and Michal and Marek Goczal topped the times in their Energylandia Rally Team Can-Ams. Domzala and Jones were down in fifth and 14th, the latter suffering a flat tyre on the stage.
The first of the desert selective sections on October 9th was split into two timed portions of 225.52km and 40.19km. Michal Goczal continued to set the pace but Jones stormed into contention and settled into second position, with Domzala taking fifth.
“We had a good day after starting very far back because of the flat tyre on the Prologue,“ said Jones. “We knew we had a lot of work to do and a lot of cars to overtake to get back to where we wanted to be. That’s what we did. The dunes were easy to make passes in, wide open with no rocks. P2, we are happy with that.”
Action continued with a second desert stage of 333.93km that crossed the Erg Chebbi. Rodrigo de Oliveira Luppi claimed the stage win with Jones a close fourth. It meant that Michal Goczal maintained the outright FIA T4 lead from Jones.
The American said: “It was a good day but a long day. We started P2 today but had a little bit of trouble in the beginning getting up to pace. After the refuel, we began to push harder and finished P4, around 36 seconds behind the leader with the top four drivers in the same minute after four and a half hours of driving.”
The third day of desert action was again split into two parts by a neutralisation section and featured a stage of 340.47km and start and finish liaisons of 211.35km and 75.54km. Domzala claimed the stage win by 3min 10sec from Amos and climbed to third, as Jones came home in third and reduced Michal Goczal’s outright lead to 3min 22sec.
“It was a good three days but the pace was insane,” said Jones. “It’s hard to keep up and try to control the race. The stones were crazy and it was hard not to get flat tyres.”
The penultimate desert selective looped through the Moroccan deserts for 367.43km. Baciuška snatched a maiden stage win, although transmission issues cost Jones dearly. Domzala came home in third.
“Not a very good day for us,” said Jones, who slipped to sixth overall. “We had a mechanical failure at km80 that cost us about 30 minutes. We removed the broken part and ran in two-wheel drive for the rest of the race until we had 50km to go and we started throwing axles. It’s a bad feeling but you have to work on it.”
Action reached a conclusion with a shorter fifth selective section. Domzala took advantage of problems for Michal Goczal to snatch a dramatic T4 win. The Pole finished 6min 54sec ahead of South Racing’s Rodrigo de Oliveira Luppi with Eugenio Amos rounding off the final step on the podium.
Support for the Monster Energy Can-Am Team came from Method Wheels, Tensor Tires, Motul, Jjuan Brake Systems, Bell, Lazer and OMP.
2021 Rally of Morocco – FIA T4 result (unofficial):
1. Aron Domzala (POL)/Maciej Marton (POL) Monster Energy Can-Am Maverick XRS 18hr 12min 12sec
2. Rodrigo de Oliveira Luppi (BRA)/Maykel Justo (BRA) South Racing Can-Am Maverick XRS 18hr 19min 06sec
3. Eugenio Amos (ITA)/Paolo Ceci (ITA) South Racing Can-Am Maverick XRS 18hr 26min 01sec
4. Kees Koolen (NLD)/Mirjam Pol (NLD) South Racing Can-Am Maverick XRS 18hr 55min 15sec
5. Rokas Baciuška (LIT)/Oriol Mena (ESP) South Racing Can-Am Maverick 19hr 03min 08sec
6. Austin Jones (USA)/Gustavo Gugelmin (BRA) Monster Energy Can-Am Maverick XRS 19hr 04min 23sec
7. Marek Goczal (POL)/Rafal Marton (POL) Can-Am Maverick XRS 19hr 10min 32sec
8. Lourenço Rosa (PRT)/Antonio Garcia (ESP) South Racing Can-Am Maverick XRS 19hr 13min 07sec
9. Hernan Garces (CHL)/Juan Pablo Latrach (CHL) South Racing Can-Am Maverick XRS 19hr 14min 52sec
10. Lucas Del Rio (CHL)/Marcello Scola (CHL) South Racing Can-Am Maverick XRS 19hr 37min 13sec
Ends
For further information: contact Scott Abraham, South Racing, Email: Scott.Abraham@southracing.com, Tel: + 49 172 6662880.
www.southracing.com
Facebook group: Monster Energy Can-Am