Dacia’s new Sandrider wins on its debut in Morocco
A seventh victory at the Rallye du Maroc earned Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah a third successive 2024 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) Drivers’ Championship and gave the new Dacia Sandrider a stunning victory on its international debut.
The Qatari’s French co-driver Edouard Boulanger also secured the Co-drivers’ Championship after a gruelling five-day event across the North African deserts where heavy rain and flooding caused early disruption to the schedule. Al-Attiyah won just one of the five stages that looped through the Chegaga dunes and across the deserts near Zagora to the finish in Mengoub-Bouârfa, but managed to carve out a winning margin of 5min 10sec.
Al-Attiyah said: “I am so happy to win this race. It was very difficult. The level of the competitors is very strong. It was not easy but we managed for the first time and we win with the Dacia. Now we are looking for more development for Dakar.”
Nine-time WRC champion Sébastien Loeb was not registered for W2RC points but the Frenchman teamed up with Fabian Lurquin to continue the development of the new Dacia. He won two stages on his way to second place to give the new team a sensational 1-2 finish on its competitive debut.
The new partnership of Guillaume de Mévius and Al-Attiyah’s former co-driver Mathieu Baumel secured third position in the first of the X-Raid Mini JCW Rally Plus machines after a mechanical issue on the final stage cost them second position.
“For our first race with X-Raid, we can be satisfied,” said De Mévius. “For the Dakar, we will have the petrol engine and a few other improvements. From what we have seen this week, we should be ready to fight in January.”
Yazeed Al-Rajhi was Al-Attiyah’s closest title challenger before the event but the Saudi could only manage fourth overall and third amongst the W2RC entrants on this occasion in his Overdrive Racing Toyota. He picked up one stage win and did enough to secure second place in the Drivers’ Championship and a similar finish for Timo Gottschalk in the Co-drivers’ Championship.
Toyota Gazoo Racing also did enough to fend off Nasser Racing by Prodrive to win the W2RC Manufacturers’ Championship, their cause helped by a fifth-place finish for Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz in their Toyota Hilux.
The Czech duo of Martin Prokop and Viktor Chytka came home sixth in the Orlen Jipocar Team Ford Raptor RS, Challenger category winner Eryk Goczal was seventh (see below), Overdrive Racing’s Dennis Krotov and Juan Cruz Yacopini finished eighth and 10th, sandwiching Goczal’s father Marek, who was ninth and second in the Challenger section.
De Mévius’s team-mate Guerlain Chicherit overcame bouts of dune sickness to hold fourth in the new petrol-engined Mini JCW Rally 3.0i. But the Frenchman and co-driver Alex Winocq stopped the technical issues on the last stage.
Spaniard Carlos Sainz held fourth position in the W2RC Drivers’ Championship before Morocco but was not eligible for FIA points with M-Sport Ford’s new Raptor running in the ‘Experimental’ category. Like Swedish team mates Mathias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist, the Spaniard and his co-driver Lucas Cruz were testing for the 2025 Dakar Rally.
Sainz and Ekström would have been third and fifth overall after the opening stage had they been eligible. The Spaniard sat out the second stage while the team worked on an engine data issue with the Raptor and he was third in SS3 with Ekström running in 13th. Sainz was quicker than any of his FIA rivals through the fourth stage, as the M-Sport Ford team gained positive feedback from the exercise.
The 25.45km Prologue determined the starting order for the opening Zagora loop stage but the short special caused its fair share of problems with punctures hampering several drivers, including Al-Rajhi and De Mévius. Chicherit set the quickest time, with team-mate João Ferreira coming home second ahead of Mathieu Serradori (Century CR-7).
Loeb’s first competitive run in the new Dacia came to an abrupt end when he slipped into a ditch, broke the front-right suspension arm and required assistance from Marcos Baumgart to continue. As a result, the Frenchman began the opening stage from the rear of the field.
Flash flooding had affected the road section, near Ouarzazate, between the start and Prologue in Marrakech and the transfer section to the night halt in Zagora. Many competitors arrived late to the bivouac and race officials were left with no option other than to rearrange the schedule. The route of stage two through the M’Hamid region was used for stage one and shortened to 177.17km and the opening stage was used for stage two.
Al-Attiyah earned a first win (his 40th in the W2RC) for the Dacia Sandrider on its competitive debut to edge into a 1min 39sec lead over Al-Rajhi with Chicherit in third. Loeb started the stage from 121st on the road and climbed through the field to finish 12th but Ferreira suffered with the complete loss of both GPS systems and lost time to his rivals.
Stage two (formerly SS1) looped through the Chegaga dunes and sandy terrain around Zagora for 266.42km. Toyota’s Lucas Moraes claimed his fifth W2RC stage win of the season by just 13 seconds from Al-Attiyah and climbed to third in the rankings behind the Qatari and de Mévius.
Al-Rajhi lost over 11 minutes to the leaders and slipped back to sixth but Serradori was disqualified for running wheel rims on his Buggy that were deemed to be lower than the minimum weight of 12kg each.
The route then headed from Zagora to Mengoub-Bouârfa for a third stage of 324.23km. Loeb beat de Mévius by 19 seconds to give the Dacia team a second stage win of the campaign but Al-Attiyah was third and retained a lead of 4min 45sec. Both Cristina Gutiérrez (electrical) and Moraes (broken throttle pedal) stopped with technical issues and Aliyyah Koloc’s event ended after her Red-Lined Revo+ fell into a huge hole and sustained damage.
The fourth 315.05km stage ran through the deserts surrounding Mengoub-Bouârfa. Al-Rajhi won the stage by 1min 35sec from Chicherit and Al-Attiyah, although the latter increased his overall lead over De Mévius to 9min 12sec.
Chcherit then suffered a terminal stoppage on the final morning, as Al-Attiyah secured the title. De Mévius stopped briefly and team-mate Ferreira gave assistance to the Belgian but the time loss saw him drop to third place behind Loeb.
Eryk Goczal takes Challenger win; W2RC title for Can-Am Factory Team’s Baciuška
The Energylandia Rally Team trio of Eryk, Marek and Michal Goczal were the dominant force in the Challenger category in a trio of Taurus T3 Ms. Outright victory eventually fell to young Eryk, who won two stages to finish just under 10 minutes clear of his father Marek.
Eryk Goczal said: “We won the rally. I can’t be more happy with my Taurus. It was a challenging rally for myself, for the car and for the team. The goal was to get 1-2-3 Goczal on the podium. Unfortunately, we just miss Michal on the podium but it’s a good step for the Dakar and we’re going to push more..”
Michal and co-driver Daniel Ortega were the early leaders and earned three stage wins but the crew accidentally discharged a fire extinguisher before one stage and were forced to miss a day. Dania Akeel fended off championship runner-up Nicolas Cavigliasso to snatch third after Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch dropped two places to finish fifth in their Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team Taurus on the final stage.
The Can-Am Factory Team’s Rokas Baciuška teamed up with Spaniard Oriol Vidal to clinch the Challenger category title after three days of the event. The success marked the Lithuanian’s third title in as many years in the W2RC after his back-to-back SSV successes in 2022 and 2023.
Valentina Pertegarini clinched the Challenger co-drivers’ championship with a day to spare and became the first woman to win a W2RC title. Oriol Vidal and Carlos Sachs were her closest challengers.
Seaidan pips Guayasamin to SSV title with Morocco win
Yasir Seaidan enjoyed a thrilling duel with Ecuador’s Sebastian Guayasamin for the SSV Drivers’ Championship and the Saudi confirmed the title by just two points by beating his rival on the final stage to claim overall SSV success. The win followed previous World Championship victories in the T2 and T3 categories and earned him the distinction of being the first driver to win in three different car categories.
The Saudi and his French co-driver Michael Metge guided their Race World Team Can-Am to victory by 10min 38sec with the Portuguese pairing of Alexandre Pinto and Bernardo Oliveira finishing second. With Pinto not registered for the championship, Guayasamin and his co-driver Fernando Acosta picked up points for second place and Acosta claimed the SSV Co-drivers’ Championship as a result. A late protest lodged by the crew against Seaidan was rejected by the Stewards late on Friday evening.
Rebecca Busi finished fourth with Sergio Lafuente in her Only Fans Racing Can-Am and did enough to take third in the Drivers’ Championship. Ricardo Ramilo was still in with a chance of taking the title until he stopped with a broken front axle on the third stage and then crashed heavily, damaged his Can-Am and ruined his bid for a third-place finish in stage four. Enrico Gaspari (Polaris) also retired in SS4 where former biker Helder Rodrigues claimed a stage win.
The Can-Am Factory Team and the South Racing Can-Am Team used the Moroccan event to evaluate the new Can-Am Maverick R in a competitive environment before the cars enter active competition at the start of 2025. They were not eligible for the FIA event and ran in an ‘Experimental’ category.
Chilean Francisco Lopez is a multiple Dakar winner and he showed the potential of the new car from the outset with the fastest times on the Prologue and stages one, two and four with team-mate Hunter Miller beating him by seven seconds in SS3 and Manuel Andujar also showing strongly to win the last stage.
2024 Rally du Maroc – final result (top 20):
1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Edouard Boulanger (FRA) Dacia Sandrider 14hr 26min 34sec
2. Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL) Dacia Sandrider 14hr 31min 44sec*
3. Guillaume de Mévius (BEL)/Mathieu Baumel (FRA) Mini JCW Rally 3.0D 14hr 40min 19sec
4. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 14hr 50min 04sec
5. Seth Quintero (USA)/Dennis Zenz (DEU) Toyota GR DKR Hilux 14hr 56min 05sec
6. Martin Prokop (CZE)/Viktor Chytka (CZE) Ford Raptor RS 15hr 13min 50sec
7. Eryk Goczal (POL)/Alex Haro (ESP) Taurus T3 Max 15hr 14min 11sec
8. Denis Krotov (KGZ)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (ANA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 15hr 21min 19sec
9. Marek Goczal (POL)/Maciej Marton (POL) Taurus T3 Max 15hr 24min 02sec
10. Juan Cruz Yacopini (ARG)/Daniel Oliveras (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 15hr 24min 57sec
11. João Ferreira (PRT)/Filipe Palmeiro (PRT) Mini JCW Rally 3.0D 15hr 30min 20sec
12. Dania Akeel (SAU)/Stéphane Duplé (FRA) Taurus T3 Max 15hr 41min 32sec
13. Nicolas Cavigliasso (ARG)/Valentina Pertegarini (ARG) Taurus T3 Max 15hr 43min 55sec
14. Lucas Moraes (BRA)/Armand Monleón (ESP) Toyota GR DKR Hilux 15hr 47min 39sec
15. Marcos Baumgart (BRA)/Kleber Cincea (BRA) Prodrive Hunter 15hr 50min 14sec
16. Mitch Guthrie (USA)/Kellon Walch (USA) Taurus T3 Max 15hr 55min 43sec
17. Rui Carneiro (PRT)/Ole Floene (NOR) G Rally Team OT3 16hr 11min 31sec*
18. Isidre Esteve Pujol (ESP)/José-Maria Villalobos (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 16hr 11min 38sec*
19. João Dias (PRT)/João Miranda (PRT) G Rally Team OT3 16hr 36min 49sec*
20. Lionel Baud (FRA)/Lucie Baud (FRA) G Rally Team OT3 16hr 41min 25sec*
*denotes not registered for W2RC
