The Checkered Flag has realized that Bahrain Raid Xtreme will skip the Desafío Ruta 40 in August to give attention to the Rallye du Maroc and 2024 Dakar Rally. Though not racing in Argentina successfully surrenders Sébastien Loeb‘s World Rally-Raid Championship probabilities barring a one-off with one other outfit, BRX feels making ready for the larger race in Dakar and supporting buyer groups are of upper precedence.
“We’re not going to Argentina after fastidiously contemplating the logistics, prices and the larger image plus we have to give attention to new buyer automobile builds and the Rallye du Maroc earlier than the push in the direction of Dakar 2024,” reads a BRX assertion given to TCF on Monday. “It was not a straightforward resolution to make however within the total image we imagine it was the fitting one to take.”
BRX additionally confused that they may retain the Bahrain Raid Xtreme title for Morocco and Dakar. Rumours have circulated since late spring that the Mumtalakat Holding Firm (the Kingdom of Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund) ended its funding of the workforce following the Sonora Rally.
Loeb and his Prodrive Hunter are third within the W2RC standings behind the Toyota Hiluxes of Nasser Al-Attiyah and Yazeed Al-Rajhi. Though stage retirements within the first half of January’s Dakar Rally knocked him out of total rivalry, Loeb roared to life within the second by profitable six levels in a row (seven whole) to complete second. A cooling pipe concern hampered his Abu Dhabi Desert Problem, although he was capable of salvage factors through his stage finishes, earlier than crashing out at Sonora.
The Frenchman has raced for BRX, Prodrive’s rally raid manufacturing facility workforce, since 2021. He completed runner-up to Al-Attiyah within the 2022 Dakar Rally and inaugural W2RC.
Whereas Loeb drops out of the W2RC image, Prodrive may nonetheless finish the yr celebrating a championship as a report from MARCA indicated Al-Attiyah will be a part of them for the season finale onwards as Loeb’s team-mate. Al-Attiyah introduced Saturday that he’ll depart Toyota when his contract expires on the conclusion of the Desafío Ruta 40 on 1 September.
Exterior of BRX, Prodrive gives manufacturing facility backing for the Brazilian X Rally Group, and Chinese language YunXiang Racing. X Rally Group, a Rally dos Sertões powerhouse led by Cristian and Marcos Baumgart, impressed of their W2RC débuts at Sonora as they each completed high ten in T1 with the latter scoring a stage podium. In China, Solar Ping retired from the Taklimakan Rally in June in his maiden begin with the automobile; YunXiang Racing will add two extra Hunters to their lineup later within the yr. Buyer groups are anticipated to indicate up in Morocco and Dakar.
Guerlain Chicherit, Orlando Terranova, and Vaidotas Žala have additionally raced Hunters within the 2023 W2RC. Chicherit, who’s Loeb’s team-mate within the FIA World Rallycross Championship, received the 2022 Rallye du Maroc in his first race in a Hunter and at present sits seventh in factors. Terranova and Žala solely ran the Dakar Rally in Hunters, the previous additionally beneath the BRX banner. Loeb, Žala, and Chicherit led a Prodrive podium sweep in Stage #9 at Dakar.
The Rallye du Maroc is scheduled for 13–18 October whereas the 2024 Dakar Rally begins on 5 January. In 2025, Prodrive will accomplice with Dacia to area automobiles for Loeb and Cristina Gutiérrez.
