Rally of Morocco – October 12th-18th, 2023    

FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC), round 5

For immediate release

Wednesday, October 18th, 2023

RED BULL OFF-ROAD JUNIOR TEAM USA’S QUINTERO AND ZENZ WIN FIA T3 W2RC TITLES AFTER FINISHING SECOND IN MOROCCO

  • Gutiérrez snatches final podium place on six-day Moroccan challenge
  • Jones misses out on world title; Baciuška and Lopez forced to retire prematurely

MERZOUGA (MOROCCO): The Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA duo of Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz have been crowned FIA W2RC T3 champions after finishing second of 37 crews who entered the punishing six-day Rally of Morocco.

Quintero led the lightweight prototype category for two days and then had to overcome a 20-minute time penalty imposed before the last morning. He eased the Can-Am to the finish over the final kilometres to seal the world title, his cause made that much easier after engine issues for rival Mitch Guthrie and time losses and subsequent penalties for team-mate Austin Jones. Victory in North Africa fell to the Polish crew of Marek Goczal and Maciej Marton.

Partnered by Gustavo Gugelmin, Jones trailed Mitch Guthrie by three points and headed Quintero by six before the Moroccan event. The Arizona driver was well-placed to take the fight to his team-mate after Guthrie lost time early in the race but a broken trailing arm on the penultimate stage meant that Jones was unable to complete the day’s route and heavy time penalties wrecked his chance of lifting the title. He and Gugelmin finished third in the W2RC series.

Jones said: “We had some bad luck with the trailing arm breaking on us but that’s racing. We ended up P3 in the championship. We got a podium on every single race except for this one and we won Dakar. So, all in all, not a bad year.”

The Red Bull Can-Am Factory Team’s Cristina Gutiérrez and Juan Pablo Moreno Huete delivered another solid performance to finish the event in third overall and confirm fourth places in the W2RC Championship.

Chile’s Francisco Lopez and Spanish’s navigator Diego Ortega crewed the second of the Red Bull Can-Am Factory Team machines and won the third stage. But the duo failed to complete two of the other three stages and were forced to retire from the event before the final day.

Rokas Baciuška had already won the W2RC T4 Championship and the Lithuanian teamed up with Oriol Vidal of Spain to drive a Red Bull Can-Am Factory Team Maverick X3 in the T3 category. Unfortunately, a promising start came to nothing when the youngster crashed on the second stage and was forced to withdraw from the race.

South Racing’s managing director Scott Abraham said: “This was a great way to end the season. It was a battle for the championship between all three drivers and congratulations to Seth and Dennis on their win. Unfortunately, a mechanical problem yesterday spoiled AJ’s chance of winning but he had a Dakar win and strong podium finishes on all the other races during the year. Adding that to Rokas’s T4 championship win, we couldn’t have asked for a better year for the Red Bull Can-Am Team.”

As it happened

Action began with a Prologue of 18.35km, near Agadir, and Eryk Goczal set the fastest time on a stage where Red Bull-backed Can-Am drivers Quintero, Lopez, Baciuška, Jones and Gutiérrez were classified in third, fourth, fifth, sixth and 11th.

The real meat of the action started with a 311.10km selective section between Agadir and Zagora that included 10km of dunes in the Erg Chegaga and a long road liaison. Goczal continued to set the pace at the front of the T3 field and he beat second-placed Quintero by 30 seconds. Baciuška, Jones and Gutiérrez finished the stage in fourth, sixth and eighth but Lopez suffered sizeable time delays and incurred additional time penalties for failing to finish the special.

“It was a long day,” said Jones. “Long liaison this morning and then a long stage in the afternoon and then another long liaison afterwards. We had a puncture but that was the only real issue.”

The second stage looped around the Zagora bivouac and ran for 296km. Leader Goczal suffered significant time delays after an accident and plummeted out of contention on a desert route where Guthrie claimed the stage win from Jones and Quintero. Lopez and Gutiérrez finished with the fifth and seventh quickest times in T3 but Baciuška was forced to retire after crashing, breaking a rear control arm and further damaging his Can-Am in the dunes.

The Lithuanian said: “We were not able to continue. We irreparably damaged our car. It’s pity that we cannot continue to test the possibilities of the Can-Am here. But we were able to see our speed and keep the pace.”

The result meant that Quintero snatched an outright lead of 1min 22sec over Guthrie and Jones and Gutiérrez held fourth. Lopez climbed seven places to 22nd. Jones said: “P2, I’m happy with that. Navigation was good, no problems and no punctures and gaining some points for the championship.”

Stage three looped around Zagora for 333km and Lopez and Michal Goczal battled hard for the stage win with the Chilean snatching the glory by just 49 seconds. But, with technical issues for Guthrie and the loss of over one hour, Quintero was able to extend his outright lead to 4min 27sec, despite finishing sixth on the day’s stage. Gutiérrez and Jones came home in third and fourth and moved up to fourth and third in the general classification.

Quintero said: “The rally has been going well for us. We’ve got about 600km of racing still to go so we’re going to keep fighting all the way.”

Jones added: “Very fast in the beginning with a lot of stones and we gained a spot in the general. I got a puncture early, that kind of slowed us down with one spare but there were a lot of broken cars out there.”

The penultimate leg headed from Zagora to Merzouga and included a competitive section of 342.96km and a tricky part towards the finish in sand dunes. The third fastest time enabled Quintero to consolidate his lead in T3 and his advantage was further strengthened after Jones and Lopez suffered massive time delays. Gutiérrez came home in fifth and moved up to third but Quintero was able to take a 6min 52sec cushion over Marek Goczal into the final day.  That was until the American incurred a 20-minute overnight penalty for finishing the previous stage (SS3) with two missing spare wheels on his Can-Am.

With Jones pulling out of the stage after just 20km with a broken trailing arm and ruining his chance of taking the title with 24 hours of time penalties to follow, Quintero was still in the hot seat heading into the fifth stage. Lopez was forced to retire after failing to complete two full legs of the rally.

The final stage looped through the dunes around Merzouga and ran for 152.49km. On a stage where Guthrie set the fastest time, Quintero erred on the side of caution to confirm second place and the world title, with Gutiérrez rounding off the podium in Morocco and finishing fourth in the series.

The South Racing Can-Am Team receives valuable support for the race programme from BRP, Rotax, Method Wheels, Tensor Tires, Motul, J.Juan Brake Systems, Oakley and Sparco.

Rally of Morocco – FIA T3 standings:

  1. Marek Goczal (POL)/Maciej Marton (POL) Can-Am Maverick X3 16hr 22min 12sec
  2. Seth Quintero (USA)/Dennis Zenz (DEU) Red Bull Can-Am Maverick X3 16hr 37min 19sec
  3. Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP)/Juan Pablo Moreno Huete (ESP) Red Bull Can-Am Maverick X3 16hr 43min 01sec
  4. Ignacio Casale (CHL)/Alvaro Leon (CHL) Yamaha T3 17hr 02min 20sec*
  5. Kees Koolen (NLD)/Wouter Rosegaar (NLD) G Rally Team OT3 17hr 15min 32sec
  6. Dania Akeel (SAU)/Sebastien Delaunay (FRA) Taurus T3 Max 17hr 18min 48sec
  7. Paul Spierings (NLD)/Jan Pieter Van Der Stelt (NLD) Can-Am Factory T3 17hr 54min 46sec*
  8. Romain Locmane (FRA)/Charlie Herbst (FRA) Can-Am Maverick XRS 18hr 53min 52sec*
  9. Lucas Del Rio (CHL)/Bruno Jacomy (ARG) Can-Am Maverick X3 18hr 55min 39sec*
  10. Oscar Ral Verdu (ESP)/Xavi Blanco Garcia (ESP) Can-Am Maverick X3 18hr 59min 16sec*
  11. David Zille (ARG)/Sebastien Cesana (ARG) Can-Am Maverick X3 19hr 53min 16sec
  12. Hernan Garces (CHL)/Juan Pablo Latrach (CHL) Can-Am Maverick X3 20hr 33min 47sec*
  13. Lukas Lauda (AUT)/Stefan Henken (DEU) Can-Am Maverick X3 21hr 18min 18sec*
  14. Claude Fournier (FRA)/Adrien Metge (FRA) MMP Rally-Raid T3 21hr 24min 02sec*
  15. João Dias (PRT)/João Miranda (PRT) Can-Am Maverick X3 21hr 26min 11sec*
  16. Austin Jones (USA)/Gustavo Gugelmin (BRA) Red Bull Can-Am Maverick X3 36hr 31min 49sec

Francisco Lopez (CHL)/Diego Ortega (ESP) Red Bull Can-Am Maverick X3                                                          DNF

Rokas Baciuška (LTU)/Oriol Vidal (ESP) Red Bull Can-Am Maverick X3                                                         DNF

* denotes not registered for the W2RC

Ends

For further information: contact Scott Abraham, South Racing, Email: Scott.Abraham@southracing.com, Tel: + 49 172 6662880.

www.southracing.com

Facebook group: South Racing Can-Am

 

@canamoffroad @southracing @brprotax

@methodracewheels @tensortire @jjuanbrakesystems @motul

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Published On: 18 October 2023