Key points:

In the RallyGP category, Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) won his first stage ahead of the Hondas of Adrien Van Beveren and Pablo Quintanilla. The Australian takes the overall lead off the Spaniard.
In Rally2, like yesterday, Bradley Cox (BAS World KTM Racing) won ahead of his team-mate Edgar Canet and remains in the lead after 3 stages.
In Rally3 Enduro Cup Afriquia, John Medina (Xraids Experience) put an end to Souleymane Addahri's (ART) unbeaten run. The Moroccan however retains his overall lead.
In the cars, Sébastien Loeb (The Dacia Sandriders) won for the first time this week. He narrowly edged out Guillaume de Mévius (X-raid Mini JCW). Carlos Sainz (Ford M-Sport) finished on the podium once again. In the overall standings, Nasser Al Attiyah (The Dacia Sandriders), 4th on the day, maintained his overall lead but saw de Mévius edge closer.
In the Challenger class, Eryk Goczal (Energylandia Taurus Factory) won and takes the overall lead from his uncle Michal. In SSV, the two Experimental category Can-Am Maverick Rs of Hunter Miller and ‘Chaleco’ Lopez finished ahead of Alexandre Pinto (Old Friends Rally). Chaleco remains in the overall lead ahead of Yasir Seaidan (MMP). In the truck class, Martin Macik (MM Technology) won his 4th day in a row.

ON TRACK
The longest stage of the week between Zagora and Mengoub/Bouârfa passed through the Merzouga dunes. At the end of the 687kms, including 327km of special, the caravan entered the Oriental region (see 25th edition).

In the RallyGP category, Daniel Sanders won 4’21” ahead of ‘VBA’. After two days waiting to pounce on the overall lead, the Australian takes the top spot with just two day to go. 11’26” ahead of Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy Honda) ‘Chucky’ has manged to build up a slim margin of comfort. The Spaniard, who jumped the start in a neutralisation zone received a 13’ penalty on arriving at the bivouac. Adrien Van Beveren gets on the overall podium 14’21” from the new leader.
In Rally2, Bradley Cox won his 3rd stage in a row ahead of prologue winner Edgar Canet. Overall, the South African has a 14'42’ lead on the young Spaniard. Michael Docherty, 3rd on the day, is also on the overall podium (+ 17'28‘’).

In the car category, Sébastien Loeb took his first stage victory. The first with the Sandrider, and the second for Dacia after Nasser Al Attiyah on stage 1. Guillaume de Mévius lost out by just 19 seconds. Carlos Sainz finished on the podium for the third time this week, today at 2'46’. De Mévius took 3'37‘’ off Al Attiyah, 4th today 3'56‘’ behind Loeb. Lucas Moraes (Toyota Gazoo Racing), yesterday's winner, suffered a mechanical problem just before the Merzouga dunes, offering a poisoned chalice to the race leader who had not planned on opening the separate car route (see Quotes).
De Mévius can console himself for missing out on victory, with his progress in the overall standings (see Quotes). The man from Namur reduced his deficit on the Qatari to just 4'45‘’, compared with 8'22‘’ this morning, a gain of 3'37‘’. Sébastien Loeb climbed onto the race podium, 10'31‘’ behind his team-mate. Dacia place 2 Sandrider in the top 3 places overall at the halfway stage.
In the SSV class, Yasir Seaidan was up against the Experimental vehicles from the Can-Am Factory team. These three Maverick R's appear in the standings each day, but will not be able to feature in the FIA general standings in two days' time. Second of the day behind Alexandre Pinto, the Saudi Arabian is heading for class victory.

RADIO BIVOUAC:
It's rare to see two people from the same family finish on the podium, much less three! This is the ambition of the Goczal clan, who were unable to realise their dream on the Dakar and are returning to competition on the Rallye du Maroc with this objective in mind. In the Challenger class, Eryk Goczal excelled today ahead of his father Marek (+ 5'50‘’) and Mitch Guthrie (Red Bull Off-Road Jr Team USA).

Winner of the prologue, the Pole took his 2nd victory of the week, equalling his uncle Michaël, winner of the two previous stages. Overall, Eryk takes the lead, 2'56‘ ahead of his father and 4'36’ ahead of his uncle. No stage has escaped the Goczal family so far this week. Tonight, the overall podium remains 100% Polish.

STAT OF THE DAY: 20
20 women of 11 different nationalities are competing this week. On the FIM side, there are 3 women on bikes plus one quad rider. In FIA, there are 8 female drivers and 6 female navigators, plus 2 women co-drivers in the Open category. Cristina Gutiérrez, the 2nd woman to win a Dakar category last January after Jutta Kleinschmidt in 2001, is the driving force behind the women's delegation on the Rallye du Maroc 2024. This is her first outing behind the wheel of the Dacia Sandrider alongside Nasser Al Attiyah and Sébastien Loeb. Her team has more women in key positions than any other on the bivouac. For the first time in the history of the discipline, a woman is team principal: Tiphanie Isnard, who was already a member of the Peugeot Sport team from 2016 to 2018. The Frenchwoman is supported by her compatriot Virginie Soulaire as sporting manager, a position she has held since 2021 with Prodrive. The Franco-Portuguese Linda Martins is in charge of communications and the Spaniard Carla Rau is in charge of crew coordination. 4 women surround Cristina and her team-mates.

25th EDITION: ON THE TRACKS OF THE TRANSSAHARIENNE
The caravan of the 25th edition of the Rallye du Maroc left Zagora this morning for the Oriental region. Mengoub/Bouârfa is the terminus of the railway line from Oujda. Started in 1920, the Trans-Saharan rail project was intended to carry ore from Niger to the Mediterranean. But at the other end, work never began and the railway stopped at Bouarfâ on the Moroccan side! Used for passenger transport until 1994, 2004 saw the end of freight transport and the end of the line. 10 years ago, Hollywood put the track back in the spotlight. In the 2015 James Bond movie ‘Spectre’, Daniel Craig invites Léa Seydoux on a romantic train journey that inevitably ends with a fight on the roof of the train in the middle of the desert. The province is now planning to launch a tourist route called the Oriental Express. The Rallye du Maroc will cross its tracks twice on the final stage.

FIM W2RC: Van Beveren makes it 15

Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy Honda), the fastest W2RC entrant in today's RallyGP stage, picked up his 15th W2RC win in Mengoub/Bouârfa. The Frenchman, who already held the record for the most stage victories, raised the bar a bit more in Morocco. No-one will be able to strip VBA of this record this season, as he has three more successes to his name than Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) and there are only two stages left.

FIA W2RC: Baciuška makes history

Game, set and match for Rokas Baciuška (Can-Am Factory) in Challenger! There remain 40 points at stake this season (30 for winning the Rallye du Maroc outright and 10 for each stage win left), but the Lithuanian has a 42-point margin over Nicolás Cavigliasso (BBR). Once the FIA publishes the definitive results, Baciuška will be anointed champion! Having claimed the SSV titles in 2022 and 2023, he will become the first W2RC entrant to prevail in two different classes. Six FIA titles are still up for grabs: Ultimate and SSV drivers, Ultimate, Challenger and SSV co-drivers, and manufacturers. Stay tuned…

QUOTES :

Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing): “We knew it was going to be a long race today and that it would be an early start. We set off on fast tracks and I caught up with the first two at the first neutralisation. But Tosha didn't stop and continued the stage while Adrien and I waited. I hope there'll be a readjustment for that and for the bonuses. In any case, I tried not to let it bother me and to concentrate on what I was doing.”

Guillaume de Mevius (X-raid Mini John Cooper Works Team): "Winning a stage is always nice, but for tomorrow, it's better to start second and I've got closer to Nasser overall. I'm getting used to the car and as far as the final result is concerned, I think I'm in a good position. We have a good pace and we're not taking any risks. I'm not going to do anything crazy to be first, that's not the objective, but I'll definitely be there if there's a problem for Nasser, a puncture or something like that. We'll carry on as we are and see where we are at the end.”

Édouard Boulanger (navigator for Nasser Al Attiyah, The Dacia Sandrider) : “Another faultless day for us and for the car. Nothing slowed us down, but we took it easy, particularly when Séb overtook us and we saw that he was putting in a bit more effort. Our aim was to finish without any problems, so there was no point in battling with him. What penalised us was passing Lucas Moraes before the dunes and having to open in that section. More than on previous days, that was a penalty because of the light. At midday when we passed, we couldn't really see anything, we didn't know where the crests were. So we took our foot off the gas. It’s a big handicap when you open in the dunes in those conditions. But beyond that, it was a good day.

DAVID CASTERA ON STAGE 4
“It's a completely new stage, one that's rarely used in racing. It's a Saudi-style special because it's fast and there are lots of tracks. The pace is quite quick, with average speeds higher than on previous days. There's a lot of navigation because there are a lot of difficult-to-see tracks and you have to look for them. It's very different from what we're used to in Morocco. I really like it. On the other hand, there's no sand, but no big stones either, so it's still pleasant to race.

© A.S.O./W2RC/Rallye du Maroc
© A.S.O./F.Le Floc'h/DPPI