World Champion keeps focus despite setbacks in Morocco
Alexandre Pinto, 2025 SSV World Champion, experienced a challenging day at the Rallye du Maroc, the final round of the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC). Competing for the Old Friends Rally Team at the wheel of a Polaris RZR Pro R, alongside co-driver and fellow World Champion Bernardo Oliveira, the Portuguese duo nevertheless added another solid result to their W2RC campaign, ending the second stage — held around Erfoud — in third place overall among the SSVs.
“Today’s stage didn’t go very well for us. We had several setbacks that delayed us considerably. We lost a lot of time but managed to finish the special, which is the most important thing. We dropped several minutes to the race leaders, but that’s part of competition — that’s racing. There are still three stages left, so there’s plenty of rally ahead and a lot can still happen. We’ll stay focused. The Old Friends Rally Team is working on the car so we can push again tomorrow. This race is also serving as a test for the Dakar, since we already have the world title secured — it’s better for problems to appear here than in Saudi Arabia. Despite everything, it’s still been a positive race,” explained Alexandre Pinto about the demanding 306 km special stage that started and finished in Erfoud.
For tomorrow’s third stage of the 2025 Rallye du Maroc, competitors will face a 323 km timed special, once again in a loop stage around the bivouac in Erfoud.
Source: Old Friends Rally Team
Translation and adaptation: Rally-Raid Network
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