The Rallye du Maroc left the Atlantic coast behind and headed into the desert. By the time the first proper day of racing was over, there was a distinctly Portuguese presence at the top of several classifications.
Stage one took the field from Agadir to Zagora over a long 636-kilometre day, including 268 kilometres against the clock. Rocks, fast tracks, dry riverbeds, sand and the first dunes marked the transition towards the Moroccan interior and provided the first serious test of this year’s rally.
In Ultimate, the day eventually belonged to João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro. On two wheels, Ricky Brabec ended KTM’s remarkable run. Martim Ventura won Rally2 and moved into the lead, while Alexandre Pinto completed an impressive day for Portugal with victory in Challenger.
João Ferreira: from almost six minutes down to a three-second win
The battle in Ultimate was anything but straightforward.
Guy Botterill, Carlos Sainz, Guillaume de Mévius and Mathieu Serradori all featured at the sharp end at different points in the stage, but the final classification still had one major twist to deliver.
João Ferreira originally reached the finish with a time that placed him 5m53s behind Lucas Moraes.
But the stopwatch had not yet told the whole story.
The Portuguese driver was credited with 5m56s for the time spent assisting another competitor. Once the correction was applied, a gap of almost six minutes became a victory by just three seconds.
Three.
Lucas Moraes finished second in the Dacia Sandrider, Mathieu Serradori put the Century CR7 just 16 seconds from the lead and Mitch Guthrie completed the top four in the Ford Raptor, 1m07s behind.
Four different cars in the first four positions. After 268 kilometres of racing, stage one could hardly have left the Ultimate battle more open.
For Ferreira, it was the fifth W2RC Ultimate stage victory of his career and it also moved him into the overall lead of the Rallye du Maroc.
A major blow for Loeb
While Ferreira ended the day on the right side of rally-raid’s unpredictability, Sébastien Loeb found himself very much on the other.
The Frenchman was running at a similar pace to team-mate Lucas Moraes when a mechanical problem at kilometre 202 effectively destroyed his chances of repeating last year’s Morocco victory.
Loeb eventually reached the finish, but after losing more than two hours he is no longer in contention for the overall win.
The consequences could reach much further than Morocco. He arrived at the rally leading the World Championship by only three points over Nasser Al-Attiyah and 13 over Seth Quintero.
Morocco has a habit of doing this. Sometimes a few kilometres are enough to change the shape of an entire championship.
Brabec brings KTM's streak to an end
On the bikes, Ricky Brabec was the man to beat.
The Monster Energy Honda HRC rider defeated Daniel Sanders by 23 seconds, Edgar Canet by 44 and Luciano Benavides by 1m53s, bringing an impressive run of 14 consecutive W2RC specials controlled by Red Bull KTM Factory Racing to an end.
There was an almost perfect numerical coincidence: it was also Brabec’s 14th RallyGP stage victory.
And it gave him more than the stage.
The American moved into the overall lead, although there is no room to relax. Daniel Sanders sits just 10 seconds behind, with Edgar Canet at 43 seconds.
After four third-place finishes in Morocco, including last season, Brabec is still searching for the Rallye du Maroc victory missing from his résumé.
The first move has been made.
Ventura wins and takes control of Rally2
If Brabec put Honda on top in RallyGP, Martim Ventura did the same in Rally2.
And for part of the stage, the Portuguese rider appeared to have little interest in limiting his fight to his own class.
Ventura mixed it with the RallyGP contenders during the opening part of the special before a few navigation mistakes and a more physically difficult finish slowed his charge.
It was still enough to beat Michael Docherty by almost a minute and earn Ventura his ninth W2RC stage victory.
He also moved into the Rally2 lead, 58 seconds ahead of Docherty and 9m17s clear of team-mate Bruno Crivilin, who had won the prologue.
Ventura left the prologue feeling he had more to give.
It did not take him long to prove it.
Alexandre Pinto dominates Challenger
Portugal’s winning day did not end there.
In Challenger, Alexandre Pinto controlled the stage almost from start to finish in the Old Friends Rally Taurus and steadily increased his advantage as the kilometres passed.
The Portuguese driver finished 7m16s ahead of Reinaldo Varela, while championship leader Puck Klaassen endured a difficult day after crashing during the special.
On a day when Ultimate was decided by three seconds, a seven-minute advantage almost looked excessive.
Walkner wins again — this time with two extra wheels
One of the most remarkable stories of the day came from SSV.
Matthias Walkner won the Rallye du Maroc as a motorcycle rider, claimed the 2018 Dakar and spent much of his career as a KTM factory star.
A series of injuries eventually forced him away from two wheels and into a second sporting life inside a cockpit.
In Zagora, that transition reached another milestone.
Walkner won the SSV category with South Racing’s Can-Am and became the first W2RC competitor to claim stage victories in both RallyGP and SSV.
His previous World Championship victory had come at the 2022 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge as a KTM rider.
Four and a half years later, he was back on top.
He simply arrived there in a rather different machine.
Price, Martín, Kanopkinas and Van den Brink add their names
In Stock, Sara Price returned to winning ways for the first time since stage 12 of the Dakar, taking the Defender to victory by 9m16s over Yasir Seaidan and 15m55s over Stéphane Peterhansel.
Albert Martín took his second consecutive Rally3 victory aboard the Triumph, while Antanas Kanopkinas was again the man to beat in the Quad category.
In the trucks, Mitchel van den Brink could hardly have asked for a better Rallye du Maroc debut. The Dutchman controlled the stage before a ten-minute penalty for Martin Macík increased his overall advantage to 11m31s.
Now, Zagora
The long transfer from Agadir is over. From here, the Rallye du Maroc settles into Zagora for a succession of desert loops.
Tomorrow brings another 423 kilometres, with 300 kilometres timed.
João Ferreira leads Ultimate. Ricky Brabec leads RallyGP. Martim Ventura sits on top in Rally2. Alexandre Pinto heads Challenger.
It was only stage one.
For Portugal, it was not a bad day’s work.
Photo: ACTIONGRAPHERS - www.actiongraphers.com
A.S.O./DPPI/Frédéric Le Floch
and
Honda Monster Energy HRC
