Aishwarya Pissay completes Stage 1 successfully: Morocco Desert Challenge
Agadir (Morocco), 24 April 2023: India’s only world champion in motorsports Aishwarya Pissay began Rally Raid competition with a flourish as she successfully completed Stage 1, the competitive stage, in the Morocco Desert Challenge 2023 here on Sunday.
Earlier, she finished the scrutiny without any problems. The Desert Challenge offers eight stages from April 21 to 30. The tough rally-raid which started here in Agadir will conclude in Merzouga after eight stages on April 30.
“I am happy to tell you that I cleared scrutiny with flying colours and completed Stage 1. This being my first Road Book Race, I am looking to gain a lot of experience from this challenge. I finished Stage 1 yesterday (23 April 2023), which was a 124-Km Prologue,” said Aishwarya Pissay, the Bengaluru based Sherco-TVS rider. She clocked 01H 06’ 53”.
“A 610-km-long Stage2 beckons today and I am really looking forward to tackling this,” she added.
She also posted a few pictures on Instagram and said: “A few photos from my first few days here which included meeting some amazing people and acclimatising to the environment. The atmosphere is electric and I am really glad and thankful to be back in Racing form.”
Morocco Desert Challenge literally is what it promises to be, a real challenge in the Moroccan desert. It has been three years since the MDC raced through Morocco. A lot can change in such a long period, even in a desolate environment like the desert. That’s why we choose to drastically change course with a completely new route!
0 kilometre liaison
Not only is Morocco Desert Challenge an adventure full of surprises, with technical parts, fast African plains, many dunes, salt lakes and legendary Paris-Dakar stages, it also offers something really unique: 0 kilometre of liaison from the start of the first special till the finish of the last one. That’s right: no liaison, only pure rally experience.
Early December, Sports Director Jean-Claude Kaket left Agadir, Morocco with his team to validate those new tracks and write the new road-books. As soon as these are finalized, you can find the updated descriptions here.
Stage 1 – Agadir to Agadir
On Friday April 21 and Saturday April 22, 2023 the Morocco Desert Challenge kicked off with a scrutiny in Agadir, one of Morocco’s friendly seaside resorts with an international airport. Bivouac 0 is at Place for Al Amal, Agadir’s largest public square. The rally hotels, where everybody is accommodated, are located along the square.
Prologue
Prepare for a prologue that will make you lick your fingers. The general comment during the verifications in late February: “This is one of the nicest stages we have ever ridden in Morocco!” In this first 38-kilometre special, you get a nice succession of turns, bumps and jumps in front of your wheels. Following the winding tracks, you ride through a landscape reminiscent of an African Savannah. The tracks consist mainly of a soft, sandy yet fast surface, and above all: there is not a stone to be found! The pistes are narrow, making overtaking difficult at times. Towards the end, the final kilometres present you with a tough navigation exercise. In short: a stage where you can immediately make the difference if you aim for a top position on Plage Blanche.
