Eduard Pons and Jaume Betriu finished third in the Challenger category – formerly T3 – in the prologue stage of Baja Saudi (Saudi Arabia), the first competition they face after their first Dakar together in January. A very positive result that 24 hours earlier seemed impossible to achieve, due to the Taurus T3 Max’s engine failure which caused a car fire which they luckily put out. After working through the night, the team mechanic had it completely redone for the Catalan duo to start.
The Saudi Low This is the first marking test for FIA Casualty Cupand ends on Saturday, February 10. This new adventure marks the beginning of a new challenge in team sports Pons Rallysport, preparing for the 2024 season that came prepared for Dakar Rally 2025. After finishing the last edition with a lot of problems with the controls of a Can-Am Maverick “I am clear that I want to return to the Dakar, and the alternatives are to do it with a Taurus in the Challenger category (T3) or with T1+ in the Ultimate.”
So, Pons and Betriu went out to Baja Saudi, held in Ha’il, with a lightweight prototype of the Taurus T3 Max, to start their tests for their next adventure in Dakar. However, things were not easy for them, as they had an odyssey in the shakedown, so they had to compete in the prologue without any prior filming.
The trigger was engine failure at kilometer 15 of the test section due to a factory defect that caused it to be destroyed. “The connecting rod punctured the block, the turbo broke and a lot of oil started coming out which caused the car to catch fire, luckily we were able to put it out. It’s a pure miracle that it didn’t burn completely and the mechanics worked all night to assemble it from scratch with a new engine,” said Eduard Pons.
The effort of the entire Pons Rallysport team and the will of Pons himself and Betriu allowed them to start the prologue stage, with 6 timed kilometers. Despite this important handicap and not being able to test the car before the start of the test, the people from Ilerenses showed great speed and achieved a result to highlight: third place in the Challenger category and 10th in generally, despite various tests. problems during stretching. As if that wasn’t enough, they finished first in the pilots following the World Cup.
“Unfortunately, not being able to check the car caused us some setbacks. We got stuck, put the gearbox in neutral a few times and we had trouble at some junctions. This added more pressure to our situation , because we have to understand the car as we go.”, the pilot commented. “However, we managed to be third in the category and tenth overall, as well as first in the World Cup, something that was a complete surprise for us.”
Pons is optimistic about his chances in this test. “Despite losing about 15 seconds, we achieved a good position, so we saw that the car has potential. Now we have to mitigate these small technical failures, which I think is due to the haste with which the team had to work yesterday to replace the engine. We are looking forward to tomorrow’s stage, which will be a long Dakar type, with more than 300 kilometers of special. Let’s see if we can pick up the pace after about 20-25 kilometers and we can start riding faster.”
After this prologue stage, which for Pons and Betriu was the first contact with the new car, this Friday they will do everything to try to stay among the best in the category, in a day that will have a total of 481 kilometers, with 302 against the clock. The Irish will be in charge at the opening track tomorrow, something they will be tackling for the first time.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
