Already familiar with the desert of Morocco: "CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team" started first

As the work week comes to an end, it has only just begun for the participants of the Morocco Rally. On Friday morning, more than two hundred athletes lined up at the starting line in the city of Agadir. Somewhat unexpectedly, the pilots of the CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team were the first to cross the line symbolizing the start of the rally.

After covering more than 100 kilometers, 19 of which were the prologue, Gaetan Martinez said that everything went smoothly, but what surprised him the most was the starting order: "When I saw the starting order, I was surprised to say the least - I was first in it, even though I have the last number in the quad classification. In the prologue we started in reverse order, so I was the very first athlete to start the Morocco Rally this year. It is a certain challenge and additional pressure. But everything went well, I drove at a normal speed without any mistakes and reached the finish line smoothly. Tomorrow is a very long day, now we are trying to rest before it."

Mindaugas Skudutis, who started second, also shared his impressions after the finish: "The first day has been done and there was, of course, pre-start stress. It was the first time for me with an electronic road book, and for sure, first time in a competition of this level, but everything is fine. As soon as I started, the stress disappeared - I had to concentrate on driving. I kept the pace safe, practiced with the electronic road book, but everything turned out to be clear and understandable."

The athlete said that the quad became unstable before the start and that added additional stress: "I noticed that the rear tire was empty. No damage, no visible holes. I filled it up with air, drove to the start, finished the prologue, and after a few more kilometers after the finish, it was empty again. So far we haven't been able to find where the air is disappearing from the tire, but it didn't affect the result, just an additional factor that caused stress."

M. Skudutis recorded 9th position in the prologue, and G. Martinez ¬– 8th position in the quad standings. Tomorrow the athletes will have a very long day: they will have to cover more than 700 kilometers, of which even 324 will be a speed section. Other team members will also have to travel together, because the rally town is moving from the city of Agadir to Zagora.