João Ferreira was the second fastest in the Prologue

João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro began their participation in the Rallye du Maroc this Sunday, the fifth and final round of the World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC). Competing in the Mini JCW T1+ from X-Raid, powered by 100% renewable fuel from Repsol, the Portuguese duo navigated a tricky prologue without any issues, finishing the first 26km of the timed stage just 8 seconds behind their teammates Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq.

“We can say that we started off on the right foot. The Prologue had some more complicated sections, and our goal was to avoid any issues, which ended up happening, as many of our competitors faced problems. The time we gained today, unfortunately, won’t count towards the overall classification, but it gives us an idea of our positioning in terms of pace. Over the next 5 days, we will do our best, as we usually do,” explained the 25-year-old driver.

The Rally du Maroc kicked off this Sunday with the Prologue in Marrakech. Until Friday, the drivers and their machines will cover approximately 2000km of timed stages, which is considered by many to be the final major test before the Dakar Rally.