In July, Bruno Leblanc was turned down by the Amaury Sport Organisation for the 2024 Dakar Rally as he wanted extra expertise in desert occasions. Three months later, he reached the end in his World Rally-Raid Championship debut on the Rallye du Maroc to efficiently change the ASO’s minds.
Leblanc completed thirty-first general within the Rally2 class and fifteenth amongst Street to Dakar individuals, the latter consisting of riders like him with no prior Dakar Rally expertise. These within the RtD who excel usually get their Dakar purposes permitted, whereas winner Toby Hederics earned free registration for the 2025 race.
He’s no stranger to Morocco, having completed third within the Enduro Cup in 2021. Nonetheless, the ASO nonetheless wanted to see extra {qualifications}, particularly in latest instances, which he sought to achieve with the 2023 version.
After ending forty-seventh within the Prologue, he accomplished the primary stage with out bother in thirty-first. The controls to his bike’s roadbook malfunctioned ten kilometres into Stage #2, forcing him to scroll by means of it manually whereas driving, which he remarked gave him “good scares” as he completed fortieth. A clear Stage #3 adopted by a rocky Stage #4 each ended with a pair of thirty-sixths. He recorded one other thirty-first to finish the rally with a complete time of 23:01:53.
For the reason that ASO’s rider choice course of passed off in July, when there have been two extra W2RC races remaining, it’s not unusual for riders to have their Dakar rejections overturned in the event that they impress afterwards. The stakes can be barely elevated for 2024 as solely Morocco can be held after the rider choice on 15 July.
Leblanc’s maiden Dakar Rally will start on 5 January 2024.
