Harry Hunt’s Rallye du Maroc comes to a premature end

Oct 05, 2016

Up-and-coming Cross Country driver Harry Hunt had high hopes for the Rallye du Maroc, but he is already on his way home after an accident on the second stage of the rally.

It was a frustrating conclusion to his very first event in the Peugeot 2008 DKR, with which he will contest next year’s Dakar Rally alongside experienced co-driver Andy Schulz.

Having got off to a solid start, Harry was third overall after the initial splits on the second stage of the rally, which happened to be the longest of the entire six-day event. Unfortunately, he was caught out by a bump in a fast section where the rear of the car dug in, sending it into a series of rolls.

“We were 136 kilometres into the stage and there was a long, easy right hander with a bump at the end,” said Harry. “Andy called the pace note for the bump in 200 metres, so I braked – but I braked during the actual corner. I didn’t actually need to brake there but I thought I would take it easy. Then the car just snapped right and dug in, and we flipped at about 150kph. It’s annoying as we were trying to be careful at the time, and we knew we had a good pace without taking too many risks. Unfortunately that’s sometimes the nature of these events: you only need a split second of miscalculation in 10,000 kilometres for it to go wrong.”

Harry and Andy were taken to hospital for checks before heading home, where they will now focus on preparations for the Dakar from January 2-14 next year, as they bid to improve on their 10th place from 2016.

“This is obviously a bit of a setback as I would have liked to have had the full mileage from this event, but there’s no point dwelling on it,” added Harry. “In these situations you just have to pick yourself back up, learn what you can, and move on. On the positive side, the car is absolutely amazing and I really enjoyed driving it. Even in the 300 kilometres or so I did, I learned a lot. PH Sport did a brilliant job, and I can’t wait to drive it again now.”

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