In July, Bruno Leblanc was turned down by the Amaury Sport Organisation for the 2024 Dakar Rally as he needed more experience in desert events. Three months later, he reached the finish in his World Rally-Raid Championship début at the Rallye du Maroc to successfully change the ASO’s minds.
Leblanc finished thirty-first overall in the Rally2 category and fifteenth among Road to Dakar participants, the latter consisting of riders like him with no prior Dakar Rally experience. Those in the RtD who excel typically get their Dakar applications approved, while winner Toby Hederics earned free registration for the 2025 race.
He is no stranger to Morocco, having finished third in the Enduro Cup in 2021. However, the ASO still needed to see more qualifications, especially in recent times, which he sought to gain with the 2023 edition.
After finishing forty-seventh in the Prologue, he completed the first stage without trouble in thirty-first. The controls to his bike’s roadbook malfunctioned ten kilometres into Stage #2, forcing him to scroll through it manually while riding, which he remarked gave him “good scares” as he finished fortieth. A clean Stage #3 followed by a rocky Stage #4 both ended with a pair of thirty-sixths. He recorded another thirty-first to end the rally with a total time of 23:01:53.
Since the ASO’s rider selection process took place in July, when there were two more W2RC races remaining, it is not uncommon for riders to have their Dakar rejections overturned if they impress afterwards. The stakes will be slightly increased for 2024 as only Morocco will be held after the rider selection on 15 July.
Leblanc’s maiden Dakar Rally will begin on 5 January 2024.