OiLibya Rally of Morocco, FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, round 9 October 3rd-9th, 2014

For immediate release Thursday, October 9th, 2014

OVERDRIVE RACING AND TOYOTA IMPERIAL BRING ALL SIX TOYOTA HILUXES TO FINISH OF GRUELLING RALLY OF MOROCCO

• Dutchman Ten Brinke leads the way in fifth overall in Overdrive Hilux

• A fastest stage time for De Villiers in Toyota Imperial South Africa car

• Issabayev finishes seventh, Alvarez 13th, Jerie 22nd and Dabrowski 29th

MARRAKECH (Morocco): Overdrive Racing and the Toyota Imperial South Africa team brought all six of their Toyota Hiluxes to the finish of a punishing OiLibya Rally of Morocco, the penultimate round of the 2014 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, which finished in Marrakech on Thursday. 

The Belgian and South African-run Toyotas had been in and out of the top three throughout the six days of gruelling competition in the northern and central Moroccan deserts and Giniel de Villiers set the fastest time on the penultimate stage between Zagora and Marrakech after earlier technical problems had cost him a potential podium finish. The South African and his German co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz finished 17th overall. 

Dutchman Bernhard Ten Brinke and Belgian co-driver Tom Colsoul suffered their own brake issues on the penultimate stage and slipped from a potential third place to reach the finish in fifth overall. Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah pipped Argentina’s Orlando Terranova to outright victory by 1min 42sec on the final loop stage around Marrakech. 

Kazakh driver Bauyrzhan Issabayev and Russian navigator Vladimir Demyanenko were classified in seventh position in their Team Astana Toyota Hilux. 

Argentina’s Lucio Alvarez new Belgian co-driver Fabian Lurquin lost too much time with transmission issues on the very first stage, but they battled back over the next five selective sections and climbed from the bottom of the leader board to finish 13th. 

Czech driver Peter Jerie and his French co-driver Edouard Boulanger completed the rally in 22nd position and Marek Dabrowski and Jacek Czachor finished 29th in the Team Orlen Toyota after technical problems and massive time penalties. 

Argentine Nazareno Lopez and his Portuguese co-driver Vitor Dinis Carita de Jesus and Spanish driver Fernando Alvarez Castellano and Argentine co-pilot Demian Guiral were classified eighth and 21st overall in a pair of Overdrive-prepared Toyota Hiluxes run by South Racing. 

“This was a long and difficult rally and a perfect chance for the team to get together and work together before the Dakar Rally,” reflected Overdrive Racing’s team director Jean-Marc Fortin. “The level of competition was high and we can be pleased with the performance of the cars and the times we set on the stages. We can also take away the data and feedback to ensure that we are fully prepared for the Dakar.” 

Terranova edged into a slender lead on the opening selective section out of Erfoud. The Argentine beat the Toyota Imperial Team’s De Villiers by just 22 seconds. Ten Brinke was fourth for the Overdrive Racing team, Dabrowski was fifth and Issabayev was ninth. Lopez reached the chequered flag in 16th position and Alvarez-Castellano was 28th in the two South Racing cars. Lucio Alvarez was delayed with transmission issues and lost over two and a half hours. 

“I had not driven the car in competition for quite a while,” admitted De Villiers. “It took a little time to pick up my pace but, after the dunes, I really began to push. Then, 15km from the finish, I had a puncture. It was my fault. I hit a rock.” 

The second selective ran for 248km between Erfoud and Merzane and De Villiers maintained second overall with the second quickest time through the dunes behind stage winner and new leader Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah. Lucio Alvarez, Dabrowski, Lopez, Ten Brinke and Issabayev set the eighth, ninth, 10th, 11th and 13th quickest times and held 46th, seventh, 14th, fifth and 10th in the overall standings. 

Terranova was back to winning ways on the third 313km selective section between Erfoud and Zagora. He beat overall leader Al-Attiyah by 1min 57sec, as Ten Brinke pipped Toyota colleague De Villiers to the third fastest time. Alvarez continued to climb back from first day delays to set the fifth quickest time. 

As the route headed out of Zagora en route to Cheggaga on Tuesday morning, De Villiers and Ten Brinke held third and fourth overall and Dabrowski and Issabayev were seventh and eighth. Lopez was the first of the two South Racing-run Hiluxes in 14th, Peter Jerie was 17th, Lucio Alvarez climbed to 25th and Spaniard Fernando Alvarez Castellano was 27th in the second South Racing car. 

Al-Attiyah extended his lead over Terranova by 2min 50sec through the fourth section and it was a good day for Lucio Alvarez in his Overdrive Toyota. The Argentine continued his stunning climb back through the field with the third quickest time. 

Ten Brinke was sixth and moved up to third overall, but De Villiers dropped half an hour to the leaders and lost his place in the top three and slipped to fifth before incurring additional time penalties. Lopez Castellano was eighth, Issabayev was 10th in the Team Astana car and Alvarez climbed to 18th. 

De Villiers bounced back strongly on the fifth section between Zagora and Marrakech and set the fastest time in his Toyota Imperial South Africa Toyota. The former winner of the event reached the finish 4min 08sec in front of second-placed Terranova. Alvarez was sixth and Dabrowski sealed ninth. 

Ten Brinke suffered brake issues, finished the stage with three brakes and slipped to fifth overall . “It was not a good day,” said the Dutchman. “There was a problem with the rear brake. We could not fix it, so we finished the special with only three brakes and lost over 40 minutes.” 

Al-Attiyah incurred a one-minute time penalty and still maintained a slender advantage of 15sec over Terranova heading into the final 113km loop stage around Marrakech on Thursday and he managed to extend that advantage to reach the podium with a winning margin of 1min 42sec. 

De Villiers rounded off his Moroccan campaign with the fourth quickest time after starting first on the road. Ten Brinke was an impressive third quickest to confirm fifth place in the general classification.

2014 OiLibya Rally of Morocco – final positions:

Ends

For further information: contact Jean-Marc Fortin (E-mail: jmf@overdriveracing.be), Overdrive S.A., rue de la métallurgie 37, 4530 Villers-le-Bouillet, Belgium, Tel: + 32 475 762 391. www.overdriveracing.be - Facebook group: Overdrive Racing