Portuguese rider Armindo Neves died on Wednesday during the second stage of the Africa Eco Race.

The accident occurred near the end of the second stage, just three kilometers from the end of the special that linked Bousaid to Tagounite, in Morocco, which had a total length of 466 kilometers

Armindo Neves was a native of Avis (Portalegre), had been connected to motorsports for many years, and was the 2019 Portuguese veteran champion in motorcycling.

This was his first participation in the African race, fulfilling a long-time dream of participating in a big rally in Africa.

We wish to express our deepest condolences to Armindo's family and friends

Below is the official statement from the race:

Stage 2
BOUSAÏD / TAGOUNITE : 466 km
Liaison: 0 km – Special Stage: 448 km - Liaison: 18 km

The majority of the competitors had returned to the bivouac of Bousaïd yesterday evening at 9 pm to attend the daily briefing of the AFRICA ECO RACE. An explanation of the stage of this Wednesday, October 19 to Tagounite during which Manfred KROISS mentioned the presence of the first dunes and the difficulty of navigation. The Sporting Director was not mistaken since important gaps are already to be noted between the first and their pursuers, and this, on two and four wheels.

Victory of BOTTURI in Motorcycle
Starting in 4th position this morning, Alessandro BOTTURI won by taking his marks on his official Yamaha. The Italian is ahead of the KTM of the Slovak Stefan SVITKO of 00:01:34 and of 00:02:00 the HUSQVARNA of the French Xavier FLICK who confirms his excellent beginning of the Rally. Arrived in the same group of six pilots who preceded the other participants by more than one hour, the Italian Maurizio GERINI finished 4th at the handlebar of his HUSQVARNA at 00:03:56 after having known problems of fork.

He did well and was ten minutes ahead of the KTM of Pal Anders ULLVALSETER who said at the finish line that at the age of 53, it is appropriate to ride relaxed. The Norwegian was accompanied at the finish line by the British rider Robbie WALLACE, also on a KTM, who also made a good start to the race. In the category more than 700, the Spanish Pol TARRES places his YAMAHA at the 11th position while the only Quad of the race driven by the Czech Zdenek TUMA is classified 18th. Special mention for the Italian rider Francesca GASPERI who finished 14th on her HONDA.

In the general standings, Stefan SVITKO leads the way with a little more than a minute's lead over Maurizio GERINI and a little more than 5 minutes over Alessandro BOTTURI. With a 4th place in the general standings, only 6 seconds behind BOTTURI, Xavier FLICK is the undisputed leader of the MOTUL EXTREME RIDER category reserved for unassisted drivers.

Second consecutive victory for David GERARD and Pascal DELACOUR in car
In Car, we take the same people and we start again for the two first places, with the victory of David GERARD and Pascal DELACOUR, 00:10:41 in front of Philippe GOSSELIN and Christophe CRESPO. The noticed success of the day went to the CANAM of Loïc FREBOURG and Franck BOULAY, 3rd at 00:21:33. As on two wheels, behind, the gaps are important since after Imre VARGA and Jozsef TOMA, 4th at 00:37:03, the fifth vehicle to pass the finish was clocked at 01:08:31. It is the CAN AM of Jean HAYECK DAGHER and Patrick ANTONIOLLI, the Senegalese crew that had already shone yesterday.

In the truck category, the battle of the TATRAs turned to the advantage of Tomas TOMECEK for a little more than 7 minutes on the British crew composed of Andrew WICKLOW, Joseph PEAKE and Matthew Quinton EVANS.

In the general ranking, David GERARD and Pascal DELACOUR already have a lead of just over 13 minutes over Philippe GOSSELIN and Christophe CRESPO. In 3rd position, we find the SSV of Loïc FREBOURG and Franck BOULAY, also leader of the T3 ranking with more than one hour of advance.

Tomorrow, Thursday, October 20, the AFRICA ECO RACE will continue its progression towards the south with a 3rd stage of 526 kilometers between Tagounite and Assa. A long special whose main part will be the crossing of the Erg of Chegaga.

Source Africa RAce

As soon as the competitors drove off the ATLAS ferry from the Italian company GNV, they set off for a 118km liaison which was just far enough to warm up the engines before diving straight into the race. Today’s stage was quite technical with some interesting navigation considering the short 94km stage.

Maurizio GERINI leads in bike category
On two wheels, the Italian Maurizio GERINI imposed himself overall and created the sensation. The HUSQVARNA rider finished 1’04 in front of the KTM rider Stefan SVITKO. This result was to be for seen as the Italian started in 30th position and the day before on the boat he was saying how much he enjoyed this type of terrain. Looking at the Slovakian, who is a rising start of the sport, he assured he had an ideal starting position for the second stage.

In third position, we must mention the strong performance from Xavier FLICK, a young rider, who is like the first 2 participating in his first AFRICA ECO RACE. It seems like the frenchman has understood how the road-book works as he managed to place his HUSQVARNA just 5’55 behind the leader which enables him to be the first MOTUL EXTREME RIDER. This category is where each rider gets only 1 box of spare parts which is then transported by the MOTUL organisation trucks. Behind these 3 riders we can find the Italian two time winner Alexandro BOTTURI on his YAMAHA and the Norwegian Pal Anders ULLEVALSETTER, who both rode carefully knowing exactly how long this 6000km race is all the way to Dakar.

Francesca GASPERI, the only woman rider this year, finished the stage in 30th position while been spotted by other riders noticing her very technical riding technic on her HONDA. Finally the one and only Quad of the rally, ridden by the Czech Zdenek TUMA signs a 24th position during this first stage clearly showing off his skills behind the handle bars.

Stage victory for David GERARD and Pascal DELACOUR in the car category
Behind the wheel of his OPTIMUS buggy, the AFRICA ECO RACE locals David GERARD and Pascal DELACOUR finished 2’51 in front of their Wacky Races teammates Philippe GOSSELIN and Christophe CRESPO. We need to point out the good performance from the Dutchman Rudy VOLLEBREGT and Gert TRAA finishing in 3rd with their CAN AM SSV just 39” behind the 2nd OPTIMUS.

With their good performance they managed to push back the 2nd T3 of Loïc FREBOURG and Franck BOULAY a full 4 minutes away. The Frenchmen finished in 5th position just in from of the Hungarian Imre VARGA and Jozsef TOMA with their TOYOTA Hilux. On the 3rd step of the T3 podium, there is an impressive performance from the Senegalese crew composed of Jean HAYECK-DAGHER and Patrick ANTONIOLLI with their CAN AM.

In the trucks, as expected Thomas TOMACEK delivered while driving alone his TATRA, meaning without mechanic nor co-driver. When looking at the overall rankings, he finished in 11th with over 3” in front of the other TATRA driven by they British crew Andrew WICKLOW, Joseph PEAKE and Quinton Matthew EVANS. The Italian MERCEDES from Giulio VERZELETTI and Guiseppe FORTUNA completes the giants podium.

Tomorrow, Wednesday October 19th, the AFRICA ECO RACE competitors have a 466km stage towards Tagounite. Diving into the stage, 447km will be the first time ever the rally has taken these traditional Moroccan tracks passing trough the first dunes in Merzouga.

Source Africa Eco Race

ON OUR WAY TO DAKAR !!

It is under a magnificent autumn sun and with more than 25 degrees on the thermometer that the 14th edition of the AFRICA ECO RACE began this Saturday, October 15, 2022, from the French Mediterranean coast.

During two days, and for the fifth consecutive year, the city of Menton welcomed, for the administrative and technical checks, 500 people from the caravan of the only African Rally to leave from the European continent. Thus, in front of thousands of admiring passers-by or motorsport enthusiasts, the hundred or so vehicles in the race and raid were carefully checked by the organization team. All this in a most convivial and even happy atmosphere, as following a long wait, the competitors and the organizers did not hide their joy to meet again.

Like Jean-Louis SCHLESSER, boss of the race, and Anthony SCHLESSER, general coordinator of the event, all smiley in front of the cameras of the television team:

"After this two-year break, it was about time, for our participants and ourselves, that the sport and adventure relive again. We fought so hard to keep the event afloat during the COVID parenthesis that today, we all experience this comeback of the AFRICA ECO RACE with a sense of freedom. Admittedly, on the sporting, economic or even geopolitical level in Europe, the period is not ideal and inevitably, the number of participants is affected by it this year. But the important thing was to get back on track, at all costs and it's done! We are also going to discover the African landscapes crossed in other conditions than those we have always known in January, and this is a real added value to this 2022 edition. The offroad rally lovers were not mistaken and moreover, many who were not, for various reasons, ready to race, entered the Raid category. A nice way to be in the adventure without the pressure of the stopwatch."

"Anyway, we are going to do our best to supervise the Rally or the Raid as well as possible and, as always, bring as many finishers as possible to the mythical Lac Rose in Dakar on October 30th. But before that, it is important to thank the City of Menton and the Principality of Monaco for, once again, a magnificent welcome reserved for the AFRICA ECO RACE. Now, on our way to Dakar!"

Once the formalities have been completed in Menton, straight to Monaco to join the parc fermé set up once more on the Quai Antoine 1er. It was 7 p.m. when Jean Luc REICHMANN, the famous French television host and actor, guest of honor in Monaco for this 14th edition of the AFRICA ECO RACE, raised the flag for Pal Anders ULLEVALSETTER, double winner of the race. On his KTM N°100, the Norwegian biker sets off for 5951 km including 3640 of race through Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal.

For nearly two hours, the hundred vehicles, motorcycles, quads, cars, SSVs and trucks, of the Rally and Raid categories, followed one another under the starting arch installed on the Quai Antoine 1er in front of the famous restaurant STARS 'N' BARS, historical partner of the Monegasque start of the AFRICA ECO RACE. A ceremony with a party feeling, as all the participants, organization team, as well as the spectators, were happy to finally see the start of the last great African Rally going to Dakar, the Senegalese city forever capital of the world of this sport.

This Sunday, October 16, 2022, after a free transfer to the port of Sète, the AFRICA ECO RACE caravan will embark in the afternoon on the ATLAS, ferry of the Italian company GNV, partner carrier of the event, direction Nador in northern Morocco where the arrival is scheduled for Tuesday at dawn. As soon as the wheels hit African soil, the serious things will begin with a first stage consisting of a short special on the road to southern Morocco. A warm-up that should already show off the entertainers of this 2022 edition.

Source Africa Eco Race

While SSVs are constantly growing in popularity, the technical and sporting regulations for the T3 and T4 categories also keep changing. We asked one of the experts about what to expect from the latest amendments. South Racing team principal Scott Abraham gave us some insights about the upcoming T3U category.

“So, you'll see a few new technical regulations happening for T3 and T4. On the T3 side, it's the introduction of T3U unlimited, which is similar to an Audi-style hybrid or electric vehicle category to the T3 category, as well as a change up to a 33-inch tire. Up until now, we've had a 30-inch tire. You know, the road to new technologies is a long one and it's not something which happens overnight. So it's really long way till we start to see competitive future technology vehicles.
On the tire size, it's something we've been asking for for several years, as it will add to the reliability of the cars. So for us, not a major change on the T4 side. The big change is that the Polaris two-litre vehicle normally aspirated will be allowed to race. This is really not so much on the technical side, but it's more to have more manufacturers involved in the sport with a chance to compete. Obviously from CanAm's position we not only compete on the racetrack but we compete also in the showroom, so it's very important as a brand considering the T4 category is the category where we race and what is sold in the showrooms.
Yeah, here is also a change in tire size. And for us as a team we will continue to develop and we'll continue to push this definitely different styles different technologies, both T3 and T4. I think the T3 will start to see a stiffer competition in the future, hopefully the the OT3 program continues to develop in a positive direction. And yeah, X-raid are coming with a Yamaha program. It's got a turbocharged engine this year with a pedal shift gearbox, so a different style to the dynamic turbo engine with the CVT. However, we will only be able to see in January at the Dakar Rally where everybody ends up.
If you are starting a new project like T3U, you're looking at a three-year program until you have a competitive vehicle. Possibly within the first 18 months, you could have a new car. When it comes to physically just building one of our new CanAms, we do those in two weeks from the chassis to actual after workshop. It can be a little bit quicker along the way. And then, yeah, if it's a new generation platform, I think normally we're looking at six months, R&D and design work, and then by nine months, you should be testing the car. So yeah, to have a competitive Dakar car takes a lot of time and a lot of years but you need to have a team and support from the manufacturer behind you.

It looks like we're gonna have an interesting championship next year, some new countries, new events. And I think it'll offer a different style of competition. In terms of the races, I feel that we cannot lose the spirit of what is cross-country, which is going in adventuring and enjoying new countries and deserts and conditions. At the same time, there are some small changes which are there for primarily in the priority drivers list. While it makes a difference for the T1 vehicles, I feel that the T3 and T4 categories are overlooked and that it doesn't take them into full account. However, it fits in with the FIA's new ranking of vehicles. So let's see how that pans out. South Racing will continue to sport the World Championship and obviously the Baja World Cup.
From our side, from a T3-T4 perspective, I think we have long-term agreements with all of our partners and CanAm. And South Racing will continue to develop and run vehicles at the highest level, and also include in the future both programs, the normal conventional showroom vehicles in T4 and then also in the T3 category, and possibly a T3U electrical hybrid program in the next few years. So how does this sport look? We can never tell but I feel from our side as a brand is South Racing, we have a very strong position together with Canam and our partners to continue to grow and develop the motorsport,”
Scott Abraham concluded.

Text: Rita Kónya
Interview: Sveta Amelichkina
Photos: MCH / South Racing

The former Special Vehicle Category champions, Tim Howes/Gary Campbell (Timdrew Property Development BAT Spec 4) have reclaimed the overall title after earning a healthy amount of points at the recent double-header event in the Free State, but the Class A championship title as well as the rest of the championships in the Special Vehicle Category of the 2022 SA Rally-Raid Championship are still up for grabs. Although Howes/Campbell have opened up a sizeable gap to the rest of the field, only small margins separate the rest of the teams in the overall standings as well as the various class championships.

This category might not have attracted the largest number of entries, but consistent participation and scoring has resulted in the title battles now being balanced on a knife edge.

Three overall victories and two runner-up results for Howes/ Campbell puts them in a comfortable lead (151 points), but behind them, the standings have changed at almost after every race with Class G teams making a habit of causing havoc amongst the Class A runners, with the standings also being shuffled regularly.

A good run at the recent Free State double-header event for the father and son team, Werner and Ian Mostert (Moto-Netix Racing Can-Am Maverick) pushed them from third to second on the overall standings (86 points) while they reclaimed the lead in the Class G championship. Lood du Preez/Chris Visser Jnr (Farmers Meat Stryker) also scored at each event and won the fifth round at Nampo. This elevated them from fifth to third overall podium (84 points) and trail the Mosterts by a slender two points.

Trace Price Moor/Shaun Braithwaite (Tip Top Milk BAT Venom) finished on the podium at the fourth round, but could not see out the distance in round five. They remain fourth overall (78 points) and are leading Geoff Minnitt/Gerhard Snyman (Hydro Power Equipment Can-Am Maverick) by only three points. Minnitt/Snyman dropped from second place on the overall standings to fifth, after a mighty roll put them out of contention in the fifth round in the Free State. The team, however, have a little breather of 32 points to the rest of the field.

Howes/Campbell might have the overall title wrapped up, but they will still have to fight for the Class A championship title. Competitors are awarded an additional five points in the various class championships for starting a race and this puts a different spin on the standings. Howes/Campbell are leading (138 points), but only 32 points separate them from Du Preez/Visser Jnr (106 points) which means if they put a wheel wrong and the runners-up put all the wheels right, they might be in trouble.

Price Moor/Braithwaite (87 points) are on the third step of the Class A podium with Sandra Labuscagne/Jonck and Jaco Jonck (KEC Racing BAT) needing only six points to overtake Ernest Roberts/Henry Köhne, who migrated to the Production Vehicle category after the Mpumalanga 400, to finish the season in fourth place.

The Mosterts (156 points) have a fairly comfortable lead in the Class G championship although they are not safe yet as Minnitt/Snyman (134 points) are close enough to still overtake them if anything happens. Glen Theron/Craig Galvin (Moto-Netix Racing Can-Am) missed the season opener and although they experienced a seesaw season, they are on the Class G podium (74 points) with a small three point gap to Francois de Wit/Ewald van Rensburg who competed in the last three events.

The defending Class G champions, Cecil and Elardus Larney, can write a book about their 2022 season that started off with them not being able to finish the first two races. They find themselves in fifth spot (63 points), but a miracle could see them finish the season on the podium. Peter Walter/Pierre Jordaan are sixth (53 points) with the rest of the field having only competed once.

Quintin Lessing/Noel Acton (Century CR-T) lead the Class P standings (50 points) from the Makenete brothers, Keith and Andrew who moved up to Class A mid-way through the season.

Teams have a final two opportunities to give it their all and make up for lost ground, with unclaimed titles still available in the overall and class championships. . The sixth and seventh round of the SA Rally-Raid Championship takes place on 11 and 12 November from the Parys Airfield.
Images: Andre Schoeman

Source SARRC
Images: Andre Schoeman

The recent event at Nampo Park, the penultimate two rounds of the SA Rally-Raid Championship (SARRC), saw a shake-up in the Overall Production Vehicle Championship as well as in the class championships and with negligible points separating the teams, the final two rounds of the season will be where the titles will be decided.
Giniel de Villiers/Dennis Murphy (Toyota Gazoo Racing SA) led the Overall Production Vehicle Championship before taking on the fourth round in the Free State, but two victories for the defending champions, Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings resulted in the team jumping from third place into the lead (120 points) although only three points now separate them from De Villiers/Murphy in second spot (117 points).

And while these two teams will fight it out at the front, another TGRSA team, Shameer Variawa/Danie Stassen now join them on the podium (87 points) with a fourth TGRSA team, Guy Botterill/Simon Vacy-Lyle, who were second overall going to the Nampo, dropped to fourth place (84 points) despite claiming a runner-up result at the fourth round. An unfortunate accident in round five saw them retiring from the race. The top five positions overall belong to teams in FIA T1+ with Gareth Woolridge/Boyd Dreyer (NWM Ford Castrol Team) moving up from seventh place to fifth (70 points) after finishing fourth on both days in the Free State.

With competitors receiving a bonus of five points for starting a race, the situation does, however, look somewhat different in the FIA T1+ Championship. Here De Villiers/Murphy are still leading (146 points) albeit by a single point with Lategan/Cummings moving from fourth to second position (145 points). This title battle will continue to the bitter end as will the fight for the final FIA T1+ podium position currently filled by Variawa/Stassen (117 points) while Botterill/Vacy-Lyle (115 points), who are fourth, will hope to claim their podium position back. Woolridge/Dreyer (109 points) are fifth and also still in with a chance to finish on the podium.

The Horn brothers, Johan and Werner (#TeamHilux Rally-Raid Toyota) missed the season opener and survived a scare at the fourth round when they rolled their vehicle during the short Pirelli Qualifying Race, but they still scored consistently to be sixth (89 points). Lance Woolridge/Elvéne Vonk (NWM Ford Castrol Team) are seventh (34 points) after they scored for the first time this season at Nampo Park. The FIA T1+ points are still provisional.

The title battle for the FIA T1 Championship will also go down to the wire and the gloves will be off between the leaders, Eben Basson/Leander Pienaar (#TeamHilux Rally-Raid Toyota) and second-placed Daniel Schröder/Ryan Bland (Nissan Navara) who are separated by 44 points. Gary Bertholdt (Renergen Toyota Hilux) made use of two navigators during the season and is third (100 points) in the FIA T1 Drivers’ Championship while Juan Möhr, who has been reading the notes for the past four events, is seventh (72 points) amongst the navigators.

With three class victories behind their names, Basson/Pienaar will stay focussed on winning the title, but they will no doubt keep an eye out for the winner of the fifth round, Chris Visser/Albertus Venter (Red-Lined Motorsport REVO) who missed the season opener, but two runner-up results and their recent victory after an extremely close battle with the leaders in the Free State, moved Visser to fifth place (96 points) while Venter is third in the navigators standings. Visser trails his team-mate, Phillip Botha (97 points) by a single point while Botha’s regular navigator, Roelof Janse van Vuren (83 points), who missed the first event of the season, is fourth.

Also in the FIA T1+ top 10 are the Red-Lined Motorsport team-mates Johan de Bruyn/Gerhard Schutte (80 points); Thomas Bell (57 points) and his regular navigator, Wade Harris (72 points) and Nicolas Pienaar/Carl Swanepoel (Super Energi Race Fuels VK50) as well as the Blignaut brothers, Fouche and Bertus (#TeamHilux Rally Raid Toyota) who made their SARRC debut this year and Richard Leeke/Zaheer Bodhanya (Leeke Motorsport).

Teams in the FIA T1.2 championship for 2x4 vehicles missed the season opener in the Production Vehicle Category with four different winners walking away with the silverware at the following four events. It has been an up and down season for many, but consistent scoring including a victory at the fifth round, elevated the multiple Special Vehicle Champion, Lance Trethewey and Leonard Cremer (King Price Xtreme CR6) into the leading position with Trethewey on 113 points and Cremer, who scored full marks next to Brian Baragwanath at the TGRSA Desert Race 1000 on 121 points.

And while there is quite a gap between them and the rest of the competition, a small blanket of 12 points covers the three teams behind them. Ernest Roberts/Henry Köhne (JCP Steel Supplies CT6) were victorious at round three and jumped from fourth to second place (77 points) while their team-mates and the winners of the fourth round, Malcolm and Frans Kock (76 points) made a huge leap onto the podium from seventh place.

Baragwanath/Rodney Burke (Century Racing) did not compete in the recent Nampo event and dropped back from the front to fourth place with 65 and 57 points respectively. Behind them the teams are somewhat scrambled with Simon Murray (WCT Toyota Hilux Turbo) rounding off the top five of the drivers (49 points) while his navigator, Achim Bergmann (32 points) are seventh.

Four Class T victories on the trot for the young Jayden Els (18) and his navigator, Armand du Toit (King Price Xtreme Renault Duster) put them in a favourable position to claim the title, but they are not out of the woods yet as 26 points separate them from the current runners-up, Christo Rose/Arno Olivier (Neil Woolridge Motorsport Ford). Johan van Staden and his son, Sean (KEC Racing Renault) are again only two points further adrift despite missing the opening event.

Another father and son team, Hendrik and Heinrich du Plessis (Ford) competed for the first time this season at Nampo and a double helping of points see them currently in fourth place (34 points) while Bernard and his wife, Minette Johnston (Neil Woolridge Motorsport Ford) round off the top five (25 points).

Toyota still leads the Manufacturers standings (583 points) followed by Ford (133 points); Century Racing (109 points); Nissan (93 points) and Renault (30 points). Volkswagen has five points and Mercedes-Benz four.

The final two rounds of the 2022 SA Rally-Raid Championship, the Parys 400, takes place on Friday and Saturday, 11 and 12 November.

Source SARRC
Images: Andre Schoeman

Halpern / Graue in 60th place after problems
Stony tracks become a challenge

The penultimate event of the FIA World Rally Raid Championship was a rollercoaster of emotions for the X-raid team. The two MINI JCW Buggy crews Jakub "Kuba" Przygonski / Armand Monleón and Sebastian Halpern / Bernardo "Ronnie" Graue were able to achieve some good stage results, but problems repeatedly set them back in the overall standings. After six days, Przygonski and his new co-driver Monleón secured sixth place, Halpern and Graue finished the rally in 60th position.

Przygonski contested his first rally together with Armand Monleón in Morocco. Both competed in the Dakar Rally for years on motorbikes. The cooperation between the Pole and the Spaniard worked from the beginning and they achieved some top 10 results in Morocco. Halpern and Graue also managed to finish among the fastest ten several times.

In contrast to the past, this year's Rally du Maroc did not take the participants to Merzouga, but to the West Sahara. The stony terrain turned out to be the biggest challenge of the 2022 edition. Even the two MINI JCW Buggy crews were not spared punctures that cost valuable time.

Jakub "Kuba" Przygonski: "The Rally du Maroc went well for us. This edition of the rally was exhausting and quite different compared to previous years. Armand was my co-driver for the first time and we both had fun. After six days together in the vehicle, we are attuned to each other. The buggy worked without any problems. Now it's time to prepare for the Dakar Rally."

Sebastian Halpern: "It was a difficult rally for Ronnie and me. We had problems with the tyres and many punctures. Of course I'm not happy with the result, but our focus was on navigation and preparations for the Dakar Rally anyway."

In a few days, the X-raid team will continue with the Andalucía Rally (18-23 October 2022) in Spain - the final rally of the FIA World Rally Raid Championship.

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Rallye du Maroc - overall standings
1. G. Chicherit / A. Winoq – BRX – 14h 47m 29s
2. O. Terranova / A. Haro – BRX – 14h 58m 24s
3. N. Al-Attiyah / M. Baumel – Toyota – 15h 16m 53s
4. Y. Al-Rajhi 7 D. von Zitzewitz – Toyota – 15h 29m 00s
5. M. Prokop / V. Chytka – Ford – 15h 48m 06s
6. J. Przygonski / A. Monleon – MINI JCW Buggy – 15h 51m 33s
…
60. S. Halpern / B. Graue – MINI JCW Buggy – 38h 42m 55s

Source X-Raid

The 22nd edition of the Rallye du Maroc, held on tracks unfamiliar to the ‘regulars’, ended in Agadir with some unprecedented victories. In the motorcycle category, the American Skyler Howes (Husqvarna Factory Racing) took his first world championship win. In the cars, Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit (GCK Motorsport) made a victorious return among the elite, dominating the W2RC duel between Loeb (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) and Al Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing), that played out to the Qatari’s advantage.

ON TRACK

It was an emotional Skyler Howes (Husqvarna Factory Racing) who savoured his victory at the end of a far from straight forward fifth stage of the Rallye du Maroc. “Man, I pushed so hard,” admitted the American. “I don’t even have the words to explain what I’m feeling right now. It was always just a dream for me to race rallies. To be here on a factory bike and win a round of the world championship is the coolest feeling in the world. There’s been a lot of sacrifices but it is moments like this that make it all worthwhile.” If everything came together this morning for Skyler it unravelled big time for his compatriot Ricky Brabec who lost all chance of holding onto his slim lead at pk 11 of the special, missing a corner and looking for a way point. Philosophical at the end, he vowed to go home “and train and work on find WPCs on less visible pistes”. Despite a difficult stage, the Monster Energy Honda rider nevertheless managed to hold onto a podium place, finishing third behind Howes’ teammate Luciano Benavides. In Rally 2 yet another American, Mason Klein (BAS World KTM Racing) won the category, exactly one year after making his rally raid debut. In a different league to his rivals all week, he finished a staggering 40 minutes ahead of second placed man and today’s stage winner, the South African Bradley Cox with Frenchman Romain Dumontier third. In Rally3, for enduro based bikes, the Moroccan Amine Echiguer (Africa Rally Team) wins yet another stage to take the overall ahead of the Frenchman Guillaume Borne and the Indian Abdul Wahid. On the quads it is the Argentinian Manuel Andujar (Drag’on Rally Team) who wins. Winner of the first two stages and overall leader throughout the race, he wins 46 mins ahead of Axel Dutrie and more than 3 hours ahead of the Lithuanian Kancius.

In the cars, Sebastien Loeb (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) who pulled out of the stage yesterday with power steering failure was today on a mission to rack up as many world championship points as possible. Mission accomplished for the Frenchman won the stage to finish 8th overall following the penalties he incurred yesterday. A favourable outcome for Nasser Al Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing) who finished the stage in 5th position and 3rd place overall. It is now the Qatari who leads the W2RC ahead of the final round, the Andalucía Rally, in a few days’ time. Orlando Terranova (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) finished 2nd overall behind the winner of the 22nd edition of the Rallye du Maroc, Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit (see Stat of the Day). The GCK Motorsport driver was on the podium every day but never on the top step. He leaves with a lot of confidence: "I felt good in the car straight away. Alex was confident with navigation, we opened the track a lot and he did an incredible job that allowed me to maintain my pace and not lose time. It's good preparation for the Dakar. Everyone was here. It takes some of the weight off our shoulders."

In T3, Belgian Guillaume De Mevius (Red Bull Off-Road Junior) won the day's stage, two minutes ahead of "Chaleco" Lopez (Can-Am Factory South Racing) and his teammate Cristina Gutierrez, who finished 45 seconds behind her opponent and world championship leader. Seth Quintero (Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA) finished fourth at 3'26'', a result that allows him to keep the overall lead and win his first Rallye du Maroc. "Chaleco" finished second ahead of Cristina.

In T4 Marek Goczal (Cobant-Energylandia Rally) won the stage to finish 5th overall. Rokas Baciuska (South Racing Can-Am) won the race, ahead of Pau Navarro (FN Speed) by 9'34'' and Jeremias Gonzalez Ferioli (South Racing Can-Am) by 16'35''.

In Open SSV Maroc Telecom, Paulo Rui Ferreira and David Monteiro with the Yamaha Powered by X-raid won the class. The new Yamaha prototype looks like it is ready for next Dakar.

In the T5 category, Gert Huzink (Riwald Dakar) won the last stage but it is Martin Macik (MM Technology) who wins the race ahead of Kees Koolen (Project 2030) and Tomas Vratny (Fesh Fesh). In the Open class, the three Audi RS S e-tron Evo 2 cars ran the entire race without a hitch - repositioned each morning behind the leaders - at a pace similar to the best FIA cars.

RADIO BIVOUAC
Skyler Howes might not have started out as favourite to win the Rallye du Maroc – his first major international victory – but nobody could deny he deserved it. A successful American desert racer Skyler was inspired to enter his first Dakar back in 2019 after listening to the stories from compatriots Chris Blais and Kurt Caselli. He went out of that edition on stage 5 but was nevertheless infected by the Dakar virus. Back in 2020 he finished 9th, a more than respectable result for a privateer but not enough apparently to turn the head of a team manager. With funds running low he decided to make one last ditch effort to win a factory ride, selling all his worldly possessions, including his 2019 Dakar bike, to pay for a place in leading privateer team BAS World KTM Racing for Dakar 2021. Crossing the final finish line in an impossible to ignore 5th place, he was promptly snapped up by Husqvarna Factory Racing. His dream factory debut turned into nightmare when he crashed out on the fifth stage but he was able to come back to race the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in March and finish 10th. One of the most positive professional riders on the bivouac, this is just the result he needed as January approaches.

STAT OF THE DAY: 15
Guerlain Chicherit has made a number of unsuccessful rally raid comebacks, with accumulated disappointments provoking a 5 year break. Last year, the Frenchman came back at the wheel of an ‘old’ Peugeot 3008 DKR in the colours of his GCK Motorsport team. Without much opposition, the former four-time freestyle skiing world champion won a shortened edition of the Silk Way. But his luck run out on the 2022 Dakar where he finished an anecdotal 68th place in Jeddah. After 11 Dakars, including 4 DNFs, and as many Top 10 finishes, the scenario of his previous comeback attempts seemed to be repeating. The announcement of his deal with the Prodrive team a few weeks before the 2022 Rallye du Maroc had a whiff of déjà vu about it. But this week Guerlain proved all the doubters wrong! Although only his second Rallye du Maroc, Chicherit immediately showed that he was not there to make up the numbers. Third on the first two stages, he was third in the provisional standings before taking the lead the next day. Second on the 3 last stages, the Frenchman has had the pace of the three world championship leaders Loeb, Al Attiyah and Al Rajhi. Taking advantage of the same car as Sébastien Loeb and the development already carried out by the Bahrain Raid Xtreme team, which placed Loeb and Terranova in 2nd and 4th positions on the 2022 Dakar, Chicherit will start next January prepared as never before. After the 2023 Dakar, he will take part in the entire W2RC and then the 2024 Dakar. The expected birth of his child in a few days could keep him away from Andalusia, for the last round of the world championship, but Guerlain knows, he is "ready as ever".

W2RC
Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing), 3rd on the Rallye du Maroc, has taken the lead in the FIA world championship with an advantage of 22 points over Sébastien Loeb (Bahrain Raid Xtreme), the previous leader.Sam Sunderland, 5th in Morocco and consistent throughout the race, has strengthened his position as leader (on 74 points) and finds himself ahead of the Monster Energy Honda bikes ridden by Pablo Quintanilla (on 52 points) and Ricky Brabec (50 points). Mason Klein (Rally 2), Alexandre Giroud (quad) and “Chaleco” Lopez (T3) have all retained their 1st places whilst in the T4 class, Rokas Baciuska (South Racing Can-Am) and Marek Goczał (Cobant-Energylandia Rally) are now neck-and-neck. Although Martin Macik (MM Technology) led the rally from start to finish, nonetheless Kees Koolen has been crowned FIA rally-raid world champion in the T5 (truck) category.
The titles in the other categories will be decided on completion of the final leg of the season at the Andalucía Rally from 18th to 23rd October.

QUOTES
Stéphane Peterhansel (Audi Sport) : "We did five days of racing without any technical problems. It's true that it was a bit hard to stay focused when you're not in the race, but apart from some punctures and navigation errors, we didn't encounter any problems. The question mark remains our performance over the length of a Dakar. But the test of reliability that we came to look for was successful.”

Source Rallye Du Maroc / ASO
Photo DPPI

South Racing’s Francisco Lopez and Rokas Baciuška lead FIA T3 and T4 Championships

The South Racing Can-Am Team emerged from a challenging 22nd Rally of Morocco with first, third and fourth overall in the FIA T4 category and second and fourth places in the T3 section and after round three of the new FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC).
Chilean driver Francisco ‘Chaleco’ Lopez teamed up with Oriol Mena in a bid to defend a 25-point lead over Cristina Gutierrez in the title race. He managed to beat the Spaniard and strengthen his position, although outright victory fell to American rival Seth Quintero. Lopez now takes an unofficial 28-point lead into the final round.
Early technical issues cost FIA T4 front-runners, Austin Jones and Marek Goczal, any chance of challenging for victory in Morocco. That opened the door for Lithuanian team-mate Rokas Baciuška to challenge for honours and he hit the front in the points’ standings after winning the category and finishing ninth of the registered W2RC drivers with Spanish navigator Oriol Vidal.
Behind Lopez, in T3, the Chilean duo of Hernan Garces and Juan-Pablo Latrach were the best of the South Racing Can-Am crews in fourth place. Helder Rodrigues made the switch from two-wheels to take part in a Can-Am with fellow Portuguese Gonçalo Reis. He finished 10th in T3.
The Argentine duo of David Zille and Sebastien Cesana were 11th, the Hungarian pairing of Pal Lonyai and Matyas Somfai crossed the line in 13th and the two all-female South Racing crews of Anya van and fellow Dutch lady Lisette Bakker and Germany’s Annett Fischer and Swedish co-driver Annie Seel were 17th and 19th.
Jeremias Ferioli made an impressive debut with the South Racing operation alongside fellow Argentinean Gonzalo Rinaldi and finished third in the T4 section. Chilean Lucas Del Rio teamed up with Bruno Jacomy to finish fourth and Cristiano de Sousa Batista and Pedro Santos were seventh.
Molly Taylor was the second driver in the Can-Am Factory South Racing line-up and registered an eighth-placed finish in T4 with former Rally of Morocco-winning motorcyclist Andrew Short working as her co-driver.
Goczal and Lukasz Laskawiec crossed the line in 11th, while Israeli South Racing debutant Gili Hacohen teamed up with Omer Pearl to gain experience before taking part in the Dakar Rally and finished 12th. Jones and co-driver Gustavo Gugelmin were 16th and 18-year-old Brazilian rookie Bruno Conti de Oliveira enjoyed his first taste of FIA competition alongside Maykel Justo to finish 17th.

Jones said: “This was the hardest Morocco Rally I have done. It was tough. We came back from the issues we had and had a good last three stages. We stayed positive and kept in moving.”

South Racing Can-Am Team’s Scott Abraham said: “As always, Morocco threw up a lot of challenges and opened up the title race in the T4 category. This will keep a lot of fans on their seats in Andalucia. ‘Chaleco’ consolidated his T3 lead and it was a great result for the team with some impressive debuts from Jeremias Ferioli and Bruno Conti. We are definitely looking forward to seeing the young drivers coming forward in the future. Hernan Garces finished the best of the non-factory pilots and Can-Am, once again, showed it’s the most competitive UTV on the market.

“The team now has a short turnaround time before heading out to Andalucia in a week’s time to hopefully wrap up the T4 and T3 championships.”

As it happened

First blood in the FIA T3 category fell to Quintero on the opening Qualifying Stage in Agadir that would determine the starting order for the opening selective section of 316.21km between the port city and the southern town of Tan Tan. Lopez came home in third in his South Racing Can-Am and Rodrigues and Zille were fourth and fifth.
In T4, Baciuška topped the times in his Can-Am XRS Turbo to snatch an early lead from Oliveira. Goczal was third.
Past Morocco rallies featured terrain in the southern region and the Dakar last visited Tan Tan in 2007 before its move to South America in 2009. Goczal continued his excellent form on the first desert stage to set the seventh quickest time of all the FIA runners and top the T4 results from Baciuška (who suffered a navigational delay), Del Rio and Ferioli.
Dakar champion Lopez won the T3 stage for the South Racing Can-Am Team, the Chilean beating Quintero by 46 seconds. Rodrigues was an impressive third and Garces rounded off the top five. Lopez said: “This is my first race in a car in Morocco. Ten years ago, I participated on a motorcycle. The stage was hard, with difficult navigation.”
The second of the desert selective sections ran for 315.13km between Tan Tan and the next bivouac in Laãyoune. Guillaume de Mevius pipped Lopez and Gutierrez to the T3 stage win, with Garces coming home in fifth. Lopez duly retained an overall advantage over Quintero of just under 10 minutes and Garces was fourth. Fischer was assisted by a rival competitor after slipping into two-wheel drive and losing a lot of time in a series of tricky sand dunes.
In T4, Oliveira snatched the stage win from Pau Navarro, with Ferioli and Taylor in third and fourth places in their South Racing-built Can-Ams. A time loss for Baciuška handed a 1min 17sec category lead to Ferioli.
Baciuška bounced back strongly to win the third 298.53km desert loop stage around Laãyoune, the Lithuanian stopping the clocks 48 seconds ahead of Jones in strong winds and sandstorm-like conditions. Ferioli came home in fourth in T4 and duly handed the initiative back to Baciuska. Taylor moved up to fifth.
In T3, Lopez was beaten on the day by Quintero and Gutierrez and saw his overall lead trimmed to just 47 seconds. Garces retained fourth in the category with the fifth quickest time.
Crews tackled 345.98km on the fourth stage between Laãyoune and Tan Tan. Lopez lost his T3 lead to Quintero and slipped to second place after dropping 13 minutes in the desert. Goczal got the better of Jones and Baciuška in T4, although the Lithuanian increased his category advantage to 12min 55sec over Navarro. Ferioli slipped to third.
The fifth selective section of 289.51km ran between Tan Tan and the finish in Agadir and included a pair of link sections, although it was later shortened by rally officials on safety grounds because of reduced visibility
De Mevius topped the T3 times for the second time, but second place for Lopez confirmed his runner-up spot in the overall rankings behind Quintero. Goczal, Conti de Oliveira and Jones set the top three stage times in T4, but Baciuška did enough to fend off Navarro and Ferioli to claim the win.
The South Racing Can-Am Team received valuable support for the race programme from Method Wheels, Tensor Tires, Motul, Bell, Jjuan Brake Systems, Lazer and OMP.

2022 Rally of Morocco – FIA T3 final standings:
1. Seth Quintero (USA)/Dennis Zenz (DEU) Grallyteam OT3 16hr 44min 38sec
2. Francisco Lopez (CHL)/Oriol Mena (ESP) South Racing Can-Am Maverick X3 16hr 54min 35sec
3. Cristina Gutièrrez (ESP)/Pablo Moreno Huete (ESP) Grallyteam OT3 16hr 56min 03sec
4. Hernan Garces (CHL)/Juan-Pablo Latrach (CHL) South Racing Can-Am Maverick X3 17hr 31min 27sec
5. Mitch Guthrie (USA)/Ola Floene (NOR) Grallyteam OT3 17hr 32min 48sec
6. Guillaume de Mevius (BEL)/François Cazalet (FRA) Grallyteam OT3 17hr 48min 01sec
7. Jean-Luc Pisson (FRA)/Cedric Duplé (FRA) Zephyr 18hr 38min 11sec
8. Sebastien Guayasamin (ECU)/Ricard Torlaschi (ARG) Can-Am Maverick X3 19hr 08min 18sec
9. Pamela Bozzano (BRA)/Carlos Sachs (BRA) Can-Am Maverick X3 20hr 25min 02sec
10. Helder Rodrigues (PRT)/Gonçalo Reis (PRT) South Racing Can-Am Maverick X3 20hr 59min 24sec

2022 Rally of Morocco – FIA T4 final standings:
1. Rokas Baciuška (LTU)/Oriol Vidal (ESP) South Racing Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo 17hr 09min 49sec
2. Pau Navarro (ESP)/Michael Metge (FRA) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo 17hr 19min 23sec
3. Jeremias Ferioli (ARG)/Gonzalo Rinaldi (ARG) South Racing Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo 17hr 26min 24sec
4. Lucas Del Rio (CHL)/Bruno Jacomy (ARG) South Racing Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo 18hr 18min 13sec
5. Toril Boquoi Alexander (ESP)/Marc Solá (ESP) Can-Am Maverick X3 18hr 28min 16sec
6. Nicolas Cavigliasso (ARG)/Valentina Pertegarini (ARG) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo 18hr 33min 56sec
7. Cristiano Batista (BRA)/Pedro Santos (PRT) South Racing Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo 18hr 34min 05sec
8. Molly Taylor (AUS)/Andrew Short (USA) Can-Am Factory South Racing Can-Am Maverick 18hr 44min 22sec
9. Toomas Triisa (EST)/Mart Meeru (EST) Can-Am Maverick X3 18hr 47min 56sec
10. Juan Miguel Fidel (ESP)/Javier Ventaja (ESP) Can-Am Maverick X3 19hr 15min 02sec

Source South Racing

Austin Jones (USA) and Gustavo Gugelmin (BRA) saw all their hopes crushed already in the first stage of Rallye du Maroc due to technical problems but the crew managed to overcome the difficulties and made the best out of the rest of the stages, scoring important points for the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship.

“I just finished up Rallye du Maroc 2022. It was a very nice rally, very tricky, very rocky, the hardest one I've ever done so far. So, yeah, it was tough. We came back from the issues that we had and we made the best out of it. We had a good last three stages. So I'm super happy about that. Gustavo did a great job the entire time. And yeah, we just stayed positive and kept him moving and this morning woke up with a lot of allergies. So that was kind of tough, but other than that, we're happy to be here and happy to be done,”
Austin Jones said at the finish of the rally.

“Well, we finished Rallye du Maroc. We tried to get as many points as we could because it was a difficult really for us since the beginning, we had some issues. Now, happy we are here and we go for Spain. We have to push in Spain for the World Championship,”
co-driver Gustavo Gugelmin added.

The upcoming Andalucia Rally, however, does not promise to be easy for the Jones and Gugelmin. Due to their problems in Morocco, they lost the lead in the World Championship and slipped back to P3 in the standings, meaning that the reigning T4 Dakar winner crew will really have to do their best to turn the tables and win the inaugural FIA World Rally-Raid Championship.

Text: Rita Kónya
Interview: Sveta Amelichkina
Photos: MCH / South Racing