TOYOTA GAZOO Racing W2RC celebrate a one, two finish in Morocco
Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings bounced back from Stage 2 disappointment to claim a Stage win just ahead of Seth Quintero and Andrew Short
Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleón claim top 10 finish and remain in the title fight despite a puncture
Stage 4 will see the crews head towards the Anti-Atlas range for a 284km loop
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing W2RC (TGR W2RC) enjoyed a strong day in the Rally du Maroc, with all three cars in the top 10 at the end of Stage 3 and Lucas Moraes continuing to fight for a podium position overall.
The third Stage presented the event’s longest competitive section, spanning 322 km. It began with terrain similar to Stage 2, combining broken tracks, dune crossings and wadis before transitioning into more demanding technical sections featuring oueds, rocky surfaces and stretches of camel grass in the latter half.
Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings made an impressive comeback in their #204 GR Hilux EVO with a commanding drive to take the Stage win, TGR W2RC’s first of the rally. After suffering a technical issue in Stage 2, the pairing adopted an all-out approach with nothing to lose, mastering the demanding mix of road surfaces to move back into contention. Their determined charge paid off as they seized the lead in the closing stages with just over 100 km remaining.
Seth Quintero and Andrew Short in their #205 GR Hilux EVO also bounced back from their DNF in Stage 2 and finished just 47 seconds behind their teammates after adopting the same philosophy of pushing hard from the start. Unlike Tuesday’s Stage 2, the pairing had no issues on the road and set solid split times in the second half of the Stage on route to second place.
In their #202 GR Hilux EVO, Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleón made a powerful start to the stage and moved into the virtual lead at the 116 km mark but the pairing lost time after suffering a puncture that forced an unscheduled stop to replace the tyre. Despite the delay, the pairing salvaged a top ten finish and remain second in the overall rally standings heading into the penultimate day.
TGR W2RC will continue its campaign from the front as Thursday’s Stage takes competitors across extensive sand dunes and demanding technical sections combined with high-speed tracks around the Anti-Atlas mountain range, bordering the Sahara Desert. Stage 4 includes a 284 km timed section before crews return to Erfoud, setting the stage for the final leg of the rally and the conclusion of the 2025 FIA World Rally Raid Championship on Friday.
Henk Lategan: “Day 3 of the Morocco rally was a bit of a comeback day for us after yesterday’s disappointment and starting quite far back on the road today. We were able to push and we decided to just go for it. We’ve had a really nice run today. When we got to the dunes we had a little bit of difficulty as we were far back from the road so we had really soft sand to contend with which made it difficult to cross and the car was overheating a bit so we did lose a bit of power but after the dunes, we could start to attack. We had a great rhythm going over the faster rougher stuff and from looking at the splits we could see we were making up ground, we carried on pushing despite getting lost for just a moment. Overall, a good day, Stage win feels really nice. It just would have been perfect if we were still in the running but it’s all good.”
Lucas Moraes: “Wasn’t the best day for us but more importantly we remain in the fight. We set off behind one of our rivals but we got passed them after a few kms but then we picked up a puncture so we lost some time with changing the tyre of course but overall the car felt really nice to drive, looking at the splits the times were okay so we were still top five when we were third on the road. Tomorrow is a big day for the team, we start ninth and let’s see if we can do a good push.”
Seth Quintero:“Today was a really good day for us. We wanted to try and get into a really good road position for Stage 4 tomorrow to be able to go full attack but actually we ended up doing a little bit too well and we ended up being second today. Wish things had gone a bit different just because if we had driven harder we could likely have got the Stage win but now we start second tomorrow which is a bit unfortunate, but it is what it is and we will still go for it. The only reason I had a good day was because of Andrew who’s doing an amazing job as the navigator/coach so I’m really thankful for him and looking forward to the rest of the rally!”
Source: Toyota Gazoo Racing
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