As Agadir awoke under the mist, at 6h, the organisers were busy setting up the room for the administrative controls. For this last round of the FIM Cross Country Rallies World Championship, they are all there, having made the trip from all corners of the world. The world’s best rally riders are ready to slug it out in this first week of October for the Championship honours at the Rallye Oilibya in Morocco.
The reigning World Champion Mattias Walkner (KTM), who was injured in the 2016 Dakar, was out of action for several rounds and only came back for the event in Chile, one month ago. Going into this last round of the Championship, it is Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna) who heads the leader board with 77 points, ahead of KTM rider Sam Sunderland, who has chalked up 66 points and Toby Price (KTM) on 57 points.
The Rallye Oilibya in Morocco is not just the last round of the FIM World Championship. It is also the last great race in the desert and the best preparation for the Dakar. The factory teams know this full well and they have fielded the cream of the crop. At KTM, the team to beat for some years now, we have Matthias Walkner, Sam Sunderland, Toby Price and a tyro, Mario Patrao from Portugal, winner of the marathon category at the 2016 Dakar.
Honda has entered Paulo Gonçalves, Kevin Benavides and Ricky Brabec, while Joan Barreda and Michaël Metge race in China. All these riders are racing the new Dakar configuration of the CFR 450 Rally bike.
At Husqvarna, Pablo Quintanilla is there of course with Pierre-Alexandre Renet, while team Sherco, with David Casteu as Sports Director, has entered Joan Pedrero, Adrien Metge, younger brother of Michaël, and an Indian rider, Aravind Prabhakar, who will be looking to earn his spurs.
The field of factory teams would not be complete without Yamaha and their talented riders Helder Rodrigues, Adrien Van Beveren, Alessandro Botturi and a new “water carrier”, 35-year old Rodney Faggotter, Yamaha dealer in his country Australia.
The factories are therefore out in force, and there is a new kid on the block at this Rallye Oilibya in Morocco in the form of Indian brand Hero, with a team managed by Speedbrain and Wolfgang Fisher. “We are working in direct contact with the Hero factory on a long term project”, Wolfgang explains. “For this rally we have taken on Santosh CS and Joaquim Rodrigues. We are not looking for a podium. We consider ourselves outsiders and our aim is to validate our new bike!”
Also among the “outsiders”, we find the Slovak, Stefan Svitko (KTM) and the highly professional KTM Warsaw Rally Team of Filip Dabrowski, with Jakub Piatek back after an injury in Qatar, the talented Adam Tomiczek, fresh from the Enduro World Championship, Pawel Staciaczek, Ivan Ramirez and Shane Esposito from America who is replacing Francisco Arredondo.
And let us not forget the only girl in the field, the delightful Anastasya Nifontova from Russia on a Husqvarna...
In quad, the Championship is virtually in the bag as Rafal Sonik (Yamaha) is well out in front with 102 points ahead of Chile’s Ignacio Casale on 47 points. But the man from Poland will not be coasting. Always up for a tough race, he will be battling it out with Sébastien Souday, Alexandre Jonchere (Nomade Racing), Bruno Da Costa and Russia’s Taisiya Shtaneva.
Judith Tomaselli
News
The bets are in and the race is on!
