Let's get this party started

The image of all the race vehicles lined up at the beach in Agadir makes you realize how big the MDC has become this year. Getting all the motorbikes, quads, SSV’s, cars, buggy’s and trucks lined up offered a great show and an impressive souvenir photo. Once the moment had been captured on film, participants went back to the bivouac to prepare for the start of the prologue.

With its 38 kilometers of special, the prologue offered a great opening stage to the participants. Navigation, varied terrain, dust… A true sample of what they can expect in the coming days! A few navigational pitfalls caused a lot of problems for some when it came to retracing the Shakedown trail. This was the case of Erick Beaudelin (#126 – Malle Moto): “I did 6 kilometers too much at the end of the special, but I wasn’t the onlye one. There were several of us looking for the right track. It's a shame, I was riding well and I had a lot of fun during this warm-up stage. »

The fastest on the bike was the Portuguese Rui Gonçalves (Sherco) who won ahead of the Yamahas of Rodney Faggoter and Pol Tarres.

On the SSV side, Patrice Garrouste and Laurent Lichtleuchter are the fastest Frenchmen (#237 – Xtreme Plus): “It’s a nice surprise to finish in the top 10! It's the first time we've driven together with Laurent and the car is brand new. This is the new 4 cylinder model from Polaris (RZR XP PRO). We come here to enjoy, this prologue was very beautiful, fun and varied”. Brazilians Rodrigo Vaelo and Enio Bozzano won. French podium in cars with the victory of Mathieu Serradori ahead of the Optimus of Simon Vitse and Guy Housset. In the truck category, Dakar winner Janus Van Kasteren, put down the fastest time closely followed by Vick Versteijnen.

Tomorrow things get serious with a 356 kilometer long special which will start from Plage Blanche and finish in Assa.