The longest stage of this year’s Rallye Du Maroc was one hundred percent dominated by the Monster Energy Honda Team. Until kilometre 200, Pablo Quintanilla ruled. Then it was time for his teammate Ricky Brabec to shine: 2020 Dakar winner reached the bivouac in Tan Tan with a four minute advantage over the second place. With this performance he is now the new leader of the competition.

The spirit of the African years of the Dakar Rally was once again today in the horizon during the fourth stage 0f Rallye Du Maroc. This meant a great variety of landscapes, between plateaus, rivers and little mountains. The dunes were this time out of the equation during the 565 kilometres covered – 346 of those racing the special section that connected Laayoune region and Tan Tan.

Monster Energy Honda Team was once again on the spotlight. First it was Pablo Quintanilla leading the way until passage control 200 km. Then it was the time for American Ricky Brabec to show his unique style. In the end, the winner of Dakar 2020 finished with an advantage that was over four minutes. A great performance that had already implications in the general standings, since he become the new leader of the competition. Adrien Van Beveren was the 5th to show up at the bivouac in Tan Tan, José Ignacio Cornejo 7th and Pablo Quintanilla 9th.

With just one day to go, tomorrow’s stage of Rallye Du Maroc will be much shorter and for sure intense in the way back to Agadir. There will be a total 379 kilometres to cover, 89 km in laiason and 290 kilometres of special stage.

Ricky Brabec 2 - “Today was good and I am very happy with the result, considering this was the longest stage. I had the energy to make the push in such a long day. The stage was rocky like every rally in Morocco, the desert is great and there is quite a variety of terrain. This year is more or less rocky and fast, we haven’t spent much time on the dunes. Tomorrow we’re going to have an open stage so it will all depend on the way we race. Looking forward to get back to Agadir, cross our fingers and let’s hope we have a good stage tomorrow and end up somewhere on the podium. It’s not over until is over, because this is rally!"

Adrien Van Beveren - “I was expecting navigation mistakes from the riders opening the stage and that did not happen. I knew I had to concentrate a lot on the road book, because there were really a lot of notes, so my head is down and it’s not easy to go fast. Overall I had a good performance. Sometimes navigation pays off, when the others make mistakes, but that was not the case. Tomorrow for sure we will push to the end and try to go as fast as possible.”

José Ignacio Cornejo 11 - “It was a good stage, quite a long one. My plan was to stay solid and consistent along the way. I felt really good and was able to race in a good rhythm. In the end I kept the same position I had, so I’m sure tomorrow it’s time to speed it up and reach Agadir in a position that allow us to keep our leadership in the championship."

Pablo Quintanilla 7 - “This morning I felt great and started with a good rhythm. I was leading the stage, but then I had a small technical problem that made me stop. I am happy that I was able to fix it and keep racing. This is also part of the race, I’m happy I could get back to the bivouac. I felt strong and powerful and I will give my best tomorrow. ”

Source Monster Energy Honda Team

It was extremely uncertain on Tuesday evening whether Riwald Dakar could return to the start of the fourth stage of the Rallye du Maroc on Wednesday. Fifteen minutes before the scheduled departure time, the truck was ready again. But like earlier this rally, driver Gert Huzink was not completely spared from bad luck.
On Tuesday, the Renault truck caught fire in the third stage after the team was on course for the day's victory. As a result, it remained to be seen whether the truck could be repaired before the finale of the Rallye du Maroc. "I must honestly say that our mechanics delivered a world-class performance," said Huzink with admiration for his mechanics. "This morning at a quarter to ten everything was ready while we had to leave at ten o'clock. Then you start such a test with the idea that maybe something is still wrong, it was a big fire. There only has to be one cable that is still damaged and you have a short circuit or something like that, you take that into account a bit, but it didn't happen."
And so Huzink was able to do what he does best: "We went full out from the start. We passed Macik, Kees Koolen had started first and we passed him as well. It was going very well until we got a flat tire. Then we were able to overtake Macik again, but things went wrong at a step that was not in the road book. In the process, two leaf springs broke off. It was really dangerous, a big impact. It doesn't improve the comfort in the truck, but the tires also ran off. Since we had already changed, we had to wait. We borrowed a tire from Macik so we could at least get to the finish."
For the first 255 kilometers, Huzink was by far the fastest truck in the race, but eventually the trio reached the finish line in fifth place. "It was not a pretty test, really one full of stones and bumpy roads like you know from Morocco. We already knew that the car goes hard if we stay in one piece. These things can happen, especially if it's not in the roadbook. Then a leaf spring might break."
Huzink went out Wednesday with an order from Mario Kress, who developed the truck: "We had to go full out. We did that and I think we will do that again tomorrow."

Automatic translation from the original Dutch version
Source  Riwald DakarTeam

After more than 110 kilometers in the fourth stage of the Rallye du Maroc there is a mandatory break for all competitors. During this break, Erik van Loon and Sébastien Delaunay notice oil leaking from the Toyota Hilux. They decide not to take any risks with the car and drive back to the bivouac via the road. At that point they are 5th in the test which makes for a good feeling.

"It went top again today," says Erik. "At the end of the test yesterday we already heard some strange noises and in the bivouac it turned out that some oil was leaking. That had gotten worse at the break, so we decided it would be smarter to drive back via the road. After all, next week is the Andalucia Rally, so we can't take the risk. Again we rode very well, had a flat tire, but then we are still just fifth. Yesterday we changed the suspension and it made a big difference. The car feels top notch, so I am satisfied with that."

Erik van Loon does still start in the fifth and final stage. "In the bivouac we are going to see how the car is and what we can fix. We prefer to drive as much as possible so we will definitely try tomorrow. We've shown this rally that we can keep up with the top, so I'm definitely looking forward to it!"

The penultimate stage starts for Anja van Loon and Lisette Bakker with the search for a waypoint. "It was immediately difficult, we looked for the waypoint for a long time. Of course we could drive on and take a penalty, but you don't really want that. So we decided to search anyway and eventually we found it. Then we took another puncture. But actually it went pretty well, we got to the finish line again. Tomorrow the last stage, we are looking forward to it!"

The final stage of the Rallye du Maroc brings the participants back from Tan Tan in Agadir. The test is 290 kilometers long.

Automatic translation from the original Dutch version
Source Van Loon Racing

The penultimate stage of the 2022 Rallye du Maroc saw Bahrain Raid Xtreme’s Orly Terranova and Alex Haro continue to hold their second place overall behind the leading sister Prodrive Hunter of Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq in their GCK Motorsport entered car. Sand storms again battered the southern region of Morocco as the cars and support crews crossed big dunes and some wide open dry river bed crossings over a 350 kilometre stage.

Bahrain Raid Xtreme’s leaders of the World Rally Raid Championship, Sebastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin were once more on the pace only to have a power steering problem in the stage that they were unable to fix out in the desert. Regretfully they retired from the day but with the car returning to service the BRX crew are already making repairs for tomorrow’s final stage.

The GCK Motorsport car of Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq lead the Rallye du Maroc and BRX’s Terranova by just under ten minutes; an impressive feat in their first event behind the wheel of the Prodrive Hunter. However, the pair are all too aware of how demanding every kilometre of rally raids can be and will be fully focussed on every one of the 185 kilometres tomorrow with a run back into Agadir where the rally started last Saturday

Sebastien Loeb. - “I had an alarm for the power steering in the stage so we had to stop and saw that a tube was leaking under the car and although we tried to fix it it’s very hard to do out in the desert. There was nothing more we could do so we had to retire from the stage. However, we’re back in service and we’ll push hard to try to score some valuable points tomorrow. Of course this hurts for the Championship but you never know what will happen in the future with so many things changing day to day so let’s go well tomorrow and see where we are.”

Orly Terranova. - “It was good and tricky all in one today. Like yesterday I need to understand why I get flat tyres but again I had two punctures 50 kilometres into the stage so we were forced to run without spare so after that we have to be careful. You know you can go quicker but you are taking care too, but we coped well through the hardest part of the stage. We were so lucky in one step down into a dry river that we didn’t see in the roadbook but we dropped down at least 6 metres. I didn’t brake because otherwise we would’ve been on the roof…it was a big moment.”

Guerlain Chicherit. - ‘’It was an amazing, pure Moroccan stage that was difficult with many rocks and tricky navigation but we made a big push in the first part where we took more than two minutes on Nasser (Al Attiyah) so we understood we were at the right speed. After this we checked our pace a little and tried to avoid any punctures as we’ve had about two a day on average so far. Tomorrow is one more day and in all rallies you have to finish after the last kilometre so I will stay focused until the end. It’s still a big stage tomorrow and ten minutes lead is not that much on a rally raid so Alex (Winocq) and I must stay focused.”

Gus Beteli. BRX Team Principal - “Another difficult stage as happens everyday here. Everything can change so quickly but we’ve got two cars at the top of the overall standings after both Guerlain and Orly had a very good stage to confirm their 1-2 positions overall. We’re very happy about that. Obviously it’s disappointing with the issue that Seb had especially for the World Rally Raid Championship but it’s not over yet and we will keep fighting.”

OVERALL
Chicherit/Winocq Prodrive Hunter.
Terranova/Haro. Prodrive Hunter + 9m 57 secs
Al Attiyah/Baumel Toyota +28m 37 secs
Al Rajhi/Von Zitzewitz Toyota +40m 48 secs
Prokop/Chytka Ford +58m 21 secs
Przygonski/Monleon Buggy +1h 02m 24 secs
Esteve/Villalobos Toyota +1h 40m 06 secs
Quintero/Zenz T3 +1h 43m 35 secs
Lopez/Mena Can-Am +1h 54m 59 secs
Guitierrez/Moreno T3 +1h 55m 42 secs

Source Bahrain Raid Xtreme

Sunderland back to his best on penultimate stage at Rallye du Maroc
GASGAS Factory Racing rally star masters the technical timed special
Just one more day of racing to go in Morocco for Sam and his RX 450F

Oh yeah, that is how it’s done! Needing to deliver a strong result with the pressure well and truly on, Sam Sunderland has clocked the second-fastest time on stage four at Rallye du Maroc to move up to third in the provisional standings with just one timed special to go. Now that’s what we call a productive day in the desert!

Sam Sunderland: “Today was the longest stage and it definitely felt like it! It was fast out there with a lot of difficult terrain, but after making a few small adjustments to the suspension on my bike, it really made a difference and I felt much more comfortable. I was able to attack a little more and that really helped. Things in rally can change quickly so it’s important to take things day by day as my good friend Toby crashed out today, but fortunately he’ll be ok. My focus is now on tomorrow and the final stage and I’m excited for it.”

It’s been a bit of a wild ride so far at the Rallye du Maroc but on the penultimate stage, Sam was definitely back to his best. After making a steady start on what was the longest stage of the rally - a whopping 346-kilometer timed special from Laayoune to Tan-Tan – Sunderland massively upped his pace once he’d passed the first checkpoint.

Continuing to take serious chunks of time out of the leaders throughout the penultimate stage on his way to posting the second-fastest time, Sam’s impressive result sees the Brit leap up to third in the overall leaderboard. And with just one more timed special separating him from the event’s finish line in Agadir, the race to the finish is set to be epic!

2022 Rallye du Maroc – Stage 4 Provisional Classification
1. Ricky Brabec (Honda) 3:21:35
2. Sam Sunderland (GASGAS) 3:25:51
3. Kevin Benavides (KTM) 3:27:46

2022 Rallye du Maroc – Provisional Overall Classification [After Stage 4]
1. Ricky Brabec (Honda) 14:51:42
2. Skyler Howes (Husqvarna) 14:52:53
3. Sam Sunderland (GASGAS) 14:58:31

Source: Gas Gas Factory Racing

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Kevin Benavides has posted the third-fastest time on today’s fourth and penultimate stage of the 2022 Rallye du Maroc. Unfortunately for Toby Price, a crash early in the timed special forced him to withdraw from the stage. Although Toby was found not to have sustained any serious injuries, the Australian will play no further part in the race.

The longest day of the event at 565 kilometers, stage four saw competitors make their way back to the bivouac at Tan-Tan. The 346 kilometers of special led riders through incredible scenery and over some of the most varied and testing terrain seen at this year’s event.

Setting off eighth into the day’s stage, Kevin Benavides’ plan was to push from the beginning of the special to make up time on those ahead. Suffering pain in the foot that he had injured on day three, the Argentinian was forced to maintain a solid pace over the faster opening kilometers of the stage, but was still able to remain inside the top four on time.

Feeling good and more comfortable on his KTM 450 RALLY after the break at refueling, the former Dakar Champion was able to increase his pace over the final 100 kilometers to secure his third-place result for the stage, which in turn elevated him to sixth in the provisional rally standings.

With just the final 379-kilometer stage five to go, Benavides is in a good position to attack the last day of competition in Morocco and try to make up further time on his rivals.

Kevin Benavides: “Overall, I’m happy with today and how the stage went for me. I set off eighth, and after hurting my foot yesterday I did have a little pain at first and I think that slowed my pace a little. As the adrenalin kicked in and the stage progressed, I started to feel a little better and was able to push harder. I’m happy with third position for that stage, especially as everyone was pushing hard today on the longest stage of the race. I’m lying sixth overall, but I don’t think that position really shows my performance for the race as I had to open stage one and that has forced me to try and catch up each day. I will now focus on tomorrow, the last day, and try to make up more time and finish the race strong.”

On form at this year’s Rallye du Maroc and well in the hunt for a podium result, Toby Price unfortunately suffered a crash early on in today’s timed special. Remaining conscious and eager to carry on with the stage, after undergoing checks by on-site medical staff, it was decided it would be safer for the two-time Dakar Champion to be taken to the local hospital to further assess his condition. Thankfully, Toby was found not to have sustained any serious injuries. We wish Toby all the best and hope to see him back aboard his KTM 450 RALLY as soon as possible.

The 2022 Rallye du Maroc concludes with Thursday’s stage five, a 379-kilometer stage that includes a timed special of 290 kilometers. Riders leave the bivouac at Tan-Tan and head north, returning to the host city of Agadir and the checkered flag.

Source Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Unlike neighbouring Lithuania, Estonia hasn’t really “invaded” the cross-country rally scene recently. However, for the Estonian crew competing in this year’s Rallye du Maroc such events are anything but new. Even if this is only their second race together, they both have vast experience, even from Dakar – but on two wheels.

“It's the third day in Rallye du Maroc, around 300 kilometers. For us, it was a bit strange day. It started already a little bit tricky because we had a little issue again with GPS. We managed to fix it before the start. After the start, I don't know, maybe one kilometer we break the tire already. So we needed to fix it. After that the tracks looked really rough, there were big stones. So we took it a little bit easier to not break already in the beginning the second spare wheel.
But we didn't break it and we follow that track and I'd say at halfway we already caught up with some group of SSVs and we followed with them really well to the filling point at 202 km it was quite OK so far. But after the filling, we had quite big navigation issues. There was a riverbed and we didn't find a good place to go out there and lost some valuable time there. But after that, when we managed to follow and find the road again until the finish it was good. But today there was a really strong wind and some places sometimes were really hard to see because there was kind of a sandstorm here,”
Toomas Triisa said.

His co-driver, Mart Meeru, added:
“During the Dakar we’ve seen many dunes, but when you ride on the bike and it's totally different from when you're sitting in the car. First, you go up and you don't see anything, then you go down and you again don’t see anything. It's totally different condition, very hot and very windy. Before the end it was so windy, sand was flying everywhere, we didn't see anything. This was very good for the navigation I practiced a lot today because you don't see the other lines.”

Text: Rita Kónya
Interview: Sveta Amelichkina
Photos: MCH 

Reminiscent of Dakar Rallies past, the third stage of the Rallye du Maroc saw scorching temperatures, dunes, rocky tracks and a sand storm across all of the 320 kilometres around Laâyoune today. However, the only thing that changed for the Bahrain Raid Xtreme and GCK Motorsport teams were the order in which they are now in the top 3 of the overall standings with Guerlain Chicherit/Alex Winocq leading with two days to go.
For the GCK Motorsport Prodrive Hunter to take the 47 second advantage with Guerlain in his first rally raid with the car is a testament to the speed, consistency and confidence he has carried over the Moroccan stages for the last four days
Leaders of the rally overnight Sebastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin drove carefully over the rocks, indeed only suffering one puncture, but it was not an easy task to open the road with the strong winds covering the tracks of the last bikes and quads that started 30 minutes earlier. Nevertheless, they are now third overall, only 4 minutes and 50 seconds back from Chicherit’s leading Prodrive Hunter.
Orly Terranova and Alex Haro remain in second place overall less than a minute off the lead after over 10 hours of rallying that started last Saturday, proof that the competitive nature of the FIA World Rally Raid Championship is as hot as ever. The Argentine is driving well with a cool head in difficult situations as he continues to be more and more hand-in-glove with the car.
All three of the Prodrive Hunters are continuing to run on EcoPower sustainable fuel that reduces CO2 emissions by 80% over the toughest terrain seen in any international motorsport; Rally Raids. Only minor mapping tweaks were made to the 3.5 litre twin turbo engine for the fuel to be first used on this year’s Dakar Rally where the cars finished second and fourth overall including three stage victories.
Tomorrow the Rallye du Maroc heads back north to Tan-Tan but first the team of BRX mechanics will work in the difficult, hot and dusty conditions at the Laâyoune bivouac to once more prepare the Hunters for the rigours of what promises to be the toughest of stages seen for some time.

Sebastien Loeb. - “That was a complicated day. We only had one puncture which is less than many but we got lost a couple of times for a little bit even though I think many others had the same problem. 10 minutes were lost there but we will see as everything is close. The fight is going to be very tight over these remaining two stages.”

Orly Terranova. - “That was difficult in the there as after just 50 kilometres we’d already used up our spare tyres so psychologically that’s then difficult with a long way to go without spares. So I said to myself, ‘OK, drive easy, carefully until the end’ and we are here. In the big overall picture it’s good with second overall, two stages to go and a good start position for tomorrow.”

Guerlain Chicherit. - ‘’That was a tough day like every day but we never stop fighting. We really wanted to try to win the stage and lead the rally overall but we did 50% of the contract! We made a mistake on the maps early on but I think Seb and Orly did the same. Then a couple of punctures but for the rest of the stage we pushed as much as possible like we do. Alex alongside me did a brilliant job but again, the car everyday is just amazing; I love this car even more everyday. So, now we are leading overall with two days to go so we need to stay focussed and finish the rally.”

Gus Beteli. BRX Team Principal. - “It’s one day at a time on this rally. As we’ve seen, everything changes every day so we just need to keep all three cars going over these particularly difficult stages. We’re in a good position in the overall standings so we need to get these last two stages completed and watch the positions in the world championship.”

Source Bahrain Raid Xtreme

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing SA (TGRSA) fielded a four-car team for the Nampo 400, which constituted Rounds 4 and 5 of the 2022 South African Rally-Raid Championship (SARRC) over the weekend of 30 September and 1 October. The squad dominated the double-header, achieving a clean sweep of podium positions for both rounds, with Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings winning twice in a row.

“This was an astounding weekend for the team,” said an ecstatic TGRSA Team Principal, Glyn Hall, after the race. “Everything went according to plan for us, and Henk really showed his class by winning twice – once from tenth on the road, and once from the front.”

For Lategan, a good result was desperately needed in his quest to defend his crown as defending SARRC champion, as he found himself trailing teammate Giniel de Villiers in the overall standings, after three rounds of the season. But two consecutive victories put Lategan right back in the mix, with just two rounds to go in the 2022 championship.

While Lategan and co-driver Cummings undoubtedly made the most of the weekend, each of their teammates found their own times to shine, ensuring stunning results for the entire team over the course of the weekend.

During Round 4, which took place on Friday, September 30, 2022, it was Guy Botterill and co-driver Simon Vacy-Lyle who went second-fastest, trailing Lategan/Cummings to the end by just shy of two minutes. De Villiers and co-driver Dennis Murphy recorded a third-place finish for the round, ensuring that they stayed in touch with the lead in the championship fight.

Round 5 saw De Villiers/Murphy improve on their finish from the day before, moving into second place for the round. They finished 1min 42sec behind the flying Lategan/Cummings. Shameer Variawa and co-driver Danie Stassen went third-fastest, completing the second all-TGRSA podium for the weekend.

“Overall, we’re not only pleased with the results, but also with the progress we’ve made with the testing and development of the new parts and setups that we ran this weekend,” continued Hall. “We are always hunting for more performance in our quest to continuously improve our Dakar-winning GR DKR Hilux T1+, and this weekend served as confirmation that our latest developments are working as expected.”

The team will head to the final double-header of the season on the weekend of 11 and 12 November, at the Parys 400. This will be for Rounds 6 and 7 of the 2022 SARRC, where the season will ultimately be decided.

Source Toyota Gazoo Racing SA

Anja van Loon does not get surprised in third stage

During the third stage of the Rallye du Maroc, Erik van Loon and Sébastien Delaunay once again manage to record the fourth fastest time. In a stage with heavy dunes and tricky navigation, they make no mistakes and, thanks to a good strategy, manage to get a good result.

"Today we are competing with the real top teams," says Erik van Loon. "It's a pity that we no longer play a role in the standings, because with our results today and yesterday we would be on the podium course. It was really tough today, tricky dunes and difficult navigation. That's where Sébastien really did a great job. We rode watched, kept our heads cool and worked really well together today and that brings us fourth time again."

In the very tough dunes of the third stage in the Rallye du Maroc, Anja van Loon and Lisette Bakker managed to reach the finish. "But that didn't go without a struggle. Pretty early in the test we got stuck in the dunes, we came over the dune and there were already 5 stuck. After some digging we were able to continue, then we had a puncture and the jack broke. Then we had to wait a while for help, but otherwise it went really well. A lot happened today, but for the most part we were spared. We didn't let ourselves be surprised. It was a really nice stage, on to tomorrow!"

The fourth stage goes from Laâyoune to Tan Tan and is 350 kilometers long. It promises to be another stage with lots of sand and dunes.

Automatic translation from the original Dutch version
Source van Loon Racing

On Day 3 of Rallye du Maroc, the penultimate round of the inaugural FIA World Rally-Raid Championship, T4 leader Austin Jones continued the damage-limiting operation after technical problems put him out of contention for the victory right in the first stage. However, with a second place today the young US driver continues to score vital points for the championship.

“We just finished Day 3 in Morocco. It was a really good day for us today, P2 by only 40 seconds or so so we're really happy with that trying to get back on track. It was really really windy, really dusty, obviously right now we're inside of the physio tent because it's too windy outside even to hear me talking. Really windy, really dusty, really hot. But yeah, overall a good day, another day in Morocco.
Today the temperature reminded me of at home in Arizona. It had to be at least 100 out there, Fahrenheit obviously. So, it was hot. And it was windy. The dust was insane. And yeah, it was a tough one today but happy we got it done and happy to be back in the bivouac.
This is like the hardest sand really I've ever been in. I’ve raced a couple of Abu Dhabis, a couple of Dakars, obviously in Saudi, and this sand is way different. It's super soft, like almost getting stuck in four-wheel drive in some places, you know, so it's really hard to drive and just eats everything. So the sand is hard, it’s weird out here,”
Austin Jones described the circumstances.

“Today it was 299 km, really fast, with a lot of rocks, and also navigation. We had just small issues today, like one tricky navigation point, and we had to change one tyre. It was a good day for us today,”
co-driver Gustavo Gugelmin added.

With Rokas Baciuska scoring 5 points today and Marek Goczal finishing out of the points, the fight for the top positions of the W2RC series remains fierce, promisng an interesting fight for the next days.

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