Isidre Esteve and Txema Villalobos participate in the 24th edition of the Morocco Rally, the last qualifying event for the Rally-Raid World Championship that began last Friday, October 13. The Repsol Toyota Rally Team duo arrives at the event in a sweet moment, after the leap forward at the wheel of the Toyota Hilux T1 in the last Baja Aragón, and with the memory of last year’s 7th position in Morocco, the best result in Esteve’s car in the World Cup. The purpose is to continue on this upward trend towards Dakar 2024, its great objective.
To properly prepare for the Moroccan Rally, an authentic “mini-Dakar”, the Oliana driver and his team designed some intense training sessions in the dunes of the Erg Chebi desert, in which Moveo La Vanguardia was able to participate together with a small group of Spanish media. The co-piloting was divided into two days to be able to experience the different terrains and environments that they will face in the Moroccan test: a route that includes five stages plus a prologue, with a total of 2,219 kilometers, 1,449 of which are timed.
On the first day, a short route was selected through hard and rocky terrain, in a dry river, which allows reaching high speeds (the Toyota exceeded 150 km/h in a more or less straight section) as well as being able to check and calibrate other elements of the vehicle, especially the brakes and the correct adjustment of the adapted controls with which the driver from Ilerda competes. It should be remembered that Isidre Esteve suffers from paraplegia as a result of the motorcycle accident he suffered in the Baja Aragón in 2007, so he drives only with his hands thanks to a complex mechanical device.
During the second day, the dunes were the protagonists of the route designed to test both the speed and skill of the driver behind the wheel of his Hilux t1 and the power and efficiency of this beast belonging to the highest category of rally-raid. In this case, an impressive wall that Esteve climbed with great technique, playing with the accelerator and the direction of his car to attack it with the appropriate angle and various jumps, as well as the dizzying descent from the crest of this immense dune, were the elements most challenging of the route outlined by his team and which we had the opportunity to undertake sitting in the passenger seat.
The sensations in the cabin of Isidre Esteve’s Hilux T1 are shocking. The thunderous sound of the almost 400 HP V8 engine is simply spectacular, as is the Toyota’s ability to overcome obstacles that it literally “swallows” without flinching. The steering reactions are sharp and quick, as is its brutal acceleration on sand, even when it is loose and soft, but the absorption capacity of the suspension is perhaps most impressive.
Driving on the most compact and rocky terrain is reminiscent of rallies, in which the car is “stuck” when braking and the balance of weights is played to guide the car along the route, while on the dunes the objective is “surf them” by taking the vehicle from side to side without losing inertia, tracing openly and trying to maintain a continuous line that does not cut off the progression. It is a delicate balance since you have to attack the dunes laterally and with the right precision both when accelerating, so as not to dig too much into the ground and get stuck, and also with the right speed so as not to jump excessively and fall flat. nose if it is a cut ridge with no visibility.
Isidre Esteve, who this year faces his 19th Dakar, is an accomplished specialist in this discipline, especially after accumulating a year of experience at the controls of his Toyota Hilux T1 that debuted in the last edition of the Morocco Rally and where registration is of a very high level in 2023: among the hundred cars registered there are no less than 34 from the T1 category.
The one from Oliana faces his next two challenges with more confidence than ever: “Every year we are better prepared. We have more experience than ever and we are aware that we are getting faster, but also that we need a period of adaptation to the car. We debuted the T1 last year, we have made changes for this season, and we are very happy with them,” states Esteve.
Specifically, the improvement has come from the team’s work on the car’s setup, especially in the controls adapted to the steering wheel. “We came in much better than last year. We don’t stop working on the controls, especially the brake, because it is the most delicate for me,” explains Esteve. With this decisive point well under way, you can now get more out of your driving and fight head-to-head with the best in a 100% inclusive sport like off-road motorsport.
In his fifth participation in Morocco by car, Esteve assures that it is a rally that he likes. “It is a terrain in which we are comfortable, with a lot of navigation and a final sandy part in Merzouga. Everything that is put into practice in Morocco on a sporting level is what we will find at the Dakar 2024,” he explains. And he adds: “The stages of the Morocco Rally are always hard, sometimes harder than those of the Dakar; “What happens is that there are half as many days.” This hardness will be a demanding test bed for both Repsol’s lubricants and renewable fuel, both used in the Toyota Hilux T1. The latter is produced 75% from materials of non-fossil origin.
