Orly Terranova scores a dramatic final stage victory for Bahrain Raid Xtreme at today’s Rally du Marok after a tense battle with Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi in the final round of the World Rally Raid Championship Ta.
Partnered in fellow Argentine Bernardo Graue’s BRX Prodrive Hunter, Terranova completed the event perfectly by taking victory from Toyota’s overall rally winner Al Rajhi on the 152km final stage.
With this stage victory, Terra Nova made a spectacular comeback after falling out of contention for the championship due to a suspension problem in the second leg, but had bounced back with a 2nd place finish in the previous stage.
Throughout the day there was little choice between the two pacesetters, with Terranova, who finished second in Morocco last year, ultimately finishing five seconds behind.
Sébastien Loeb, in his BRX Prodrive Hunter, set the fifth-fastest time of the day alongside Fabien Lequin, with just 29 seconds to go from leading the rally, following yesterday’s difficult stage exit.
The final stage involved approximately 40km of driving through sand dunes. The battle for outright victory came to an end after just 28km, when Stéphane Peterhansel’s Audi, which had been 3 minutes and 49 seconds behind Al Rajhi, stopped overnight.
Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah also retained his World Rally Raid Championship drivers’ title after winning the last three races, despite getting stuck in a sand dune on the second day in his Toyota.
At the finish, Terranova expressed his joy as follows: “I was feeling better every day. This victory means a lot to me. It was a great rally. I made one mistake, but overall it was fun.”
Al Rajhi won by a margin of 34 minutes and 17 seconds over second place teammate Denis Krotov.
Nani Roma makes the big move of the day to take 3rd place overall
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