Rally du Maroc 2025 – Day 4 / Stage 3: Video Highlights – report & Gallery!

ON THE TRACK

In the motorcycle category, the three leading contenders on this 26th edition of the Rallye du Maroc battled it out again today. By his own admission, Ricky Brabec (+3’13“), winner of the prologue, was unable to challenge Tosha Schareina, who won yesterday, or Daniel Sanders, winner of stage 1 (see Quotes). Schareina pulled off the feat of opening the special stage without being caught by the factory KTM rider who was hot on his heels. The Spaniard therefore pocketed all the bonuses reserved for the opener (2’06“). At the finish, the Australian was beaten by just 5 seconds. A handful of seconds that narrows the gap in the overall standings to 38 seconds in favor of “Chucky”, the winner of the 2024 Rallye du Maroc. Brabec drops to 7’23“ in the overall standings.

In Rally2, Michael Docherty, winner of the prologue and yesterday’s stage, won again today. Victim of a technical problem with his road book, the South African was given back the time lost (see Quotes) and won ahead of Edgar Canet (+4’28“) and Konrad Dabrowski (Duust Rally, +10’30”). In the overall standings, the Spaniard’s lead has been reduced from 5’08“ to just 40 seconds. In Rally3, Noa Sainct, who was let down yesterday by his rear mousse, won his second stage with a 46’52” lead over Thomas Zoldos. Above all, he has reduced his overall deficit (+39’32“) on his compatriot.

In the car category, teammates Henk Lategan and Seth Quintero, who were slowed yesterday by mechanical issues, were the strong performers of the day. Starting in 20^th and 21^st place, the factory Toyota drivers finished in that order with a gap of 46 seconds. The Dacias of Sébastien Loeb (+57“) and opener Nasser Al Attiyah (+1’42”) were the cars that resisted the best. The overall podium, this morning featured Nani Roma (Ford M-Sport), Lucas Moraes (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC) and Joao Ferreira (Toyota Gazoo Racing). This evening only the Brazilian maintains his position. Loeb takes the lead in the Rallye du Maroc ahead of Moraes (+3’25“) and Mattias Ekström (Ford M-Sport, +4’33”). Al Attiyah, 20th the day before yesterday (+12’40“), 7th yesterday (+10’26’‘), has climbed to 5^th place tonight (+7’08’‘). The winner of the 2024 edition has reduced his deficit by a third and made excellent progress in his quest for a fourth consecutive world title against Moraes, now only 4’08“ ahead of him (see W2RC).

In the Challenger class, Yasir Seaidan (Race World – MMP) and Charles Munster (BBR Motorsport) had to pull out of the special stage. Dania Akeel won ahead of Paul Spierings (Rebellion Spierings, +2’20“) and Abdulaziz Al Kuwari (QQMF Racing, +3’29”). The Saudi Arabian bounced back from yesterday’s victory by Puck Klaassen (G Rally). In the overall standings, Pau Navarro (BBR Motorsport), 3rd this morning, took advantage of the misfortunes of Seaidan and Munster to take the lead ahead of Nicolas Cavigliasso (Vertical Motorsport, +1’13“) and Klaassen (+6’08”). In SSV, there was another triple victory for the Can-Am Factory team with, as yesterday, “Chaleco” Lopez ahead of Jeremias Ferioli (+1’55’‘) and today Kyle Chaney (+5’36’‘). In the overall standings, Ferioli doubled his lead over Miller (+10’17’‘), and “Chaleco” climbed onto the podium (+11’22’‘) to give Can-Am a triple victory. In Trucks, Martin Macik regained the lead over the Huzink clan (Kuipers-Jongbloed Hybrid Dakar). Gert finished behind the Czech, who increased his lead in the overall standings.

RADIO BIVOUAC: ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER

A ‘stupid’ accident on moped and 18 operations later, surgeons decided they had no choice but to amputate 16 year old Deen Munsters’ left leg. “It could have been worse,” comments the Dutchman, “originally they wanted to do it above the knee.” By the time he was released from hospital three months later Deen had already worked out how he could adapt a motorcycle to his new handicap and the hurdles he’d need to jump over to obtain a Dutch federation race licence. 10 years later, here on the Rallye du Maroc he is using essentially the same system; a button on the left handlebar operating a small servo that activates his Honda’s gear lever. “Although I race moto-x and enduro back home in Holland this is my first rally-raid. I’m planning on doing a couple more to prepare and qualify for the 2027 Dakar. As far as actual riding is concerned my handicap doesn’t pose too many problems. It is however hard on my amputated leg and I will almost certainly spend a few days in a wheelchair when I get home to give it a rest.”

Being an amputee does however have its advantages. “I’ll be honest, in this age when privateers like me are all fighting to make an impact on social media having one leg definitely makes it easier to find sponsors. I have created D-ONE Foundation – No Limits in Life to show people who have a handicap that they can get out and do things that they thought were impossible and plan to give motivational speeches after my Dakar attempt.” Having one leg can also give rise to some hilarious moments of black humour. “I had a crash on the first stage and my leg came off and landed a couple of metres away. Right after a French rider showed up and totally freaked out. I had trouble catching my breath I was laughing so much.”

STAT OF THE DAY: 4

Leader of the Rallye du Maroc at the finish in Erfoud on Monday, Sébastien Loeb then lost 4 places at the end of yesterday’s second stage. The Frenchman was relegated to 4 minutes behind the overall leader. On this 4^th day of competition, he jumped 4 places to retake the lead. This is the 4^th time this season that he has led a championship round, after the 2nd stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, the 3rd stage of the South African Safari Rally, and the 1st stage of the Rallye du Maroc.

THE RALLYE DU MAROC AND ME

Loïc Minaudier (co-driver for Mathieu Serradori)

My first Rallye du Maroc: „It was in 2015 in the Enduro Cup, my first rally. I was the official GasGas France rider in the French Enduro Championship. I did Turkey afterwards to prepare for the 2006 Dakar with Nomade Racing. I finished second behind Santolino, who had also come to do his first rally. To finance my debut, I worked for the organization driving down their truck, then worked with them ahead of the race before driving back home. “

My last Rallye du Maroc: ”I did five Rallye du Maroc on a bike, and finished all of them. In 2021, I started in cars with Mathieu. Last year, we were in the running, but as we had used the rims from our 2WD on the 4×4 because our wheels hadn’t arrived, we were switched to Open on the fourth day… for 100 grams too much per rim. We were fourth overall at the time.“

TOMORROW’S STAGE AS SEEN BY MARC COMA

The most beautiful: „The special stage is fast with predominantly sandy ground. No big dunes this time, but several small cordons to cross and some trials sections to add a bit of a challenge. For me, it’s the most beautiful stage of the rally.”

W2RC: THE POINT!

Fourth on the day, Nasser Al Attiyah pockets two stage points in the FIA championship. He does better than his rival for the title, Lucas Moraes (9^th), who scores none. The Qatari regains some breathing space over the Brazilian, who is now 11 points behind. Winner of the special stage, Henk Lategan is now 10 points behind Al Attiyah, but his poor position in the overall race standings (16^th among the Ultimate cars entered in the W2RC) greatly reduces his chances of winning the title.

QUOTES

Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC): “A much better day than yesterday. It’s a lot easier crossing the dunes with four wheel drive. I don’t think the reality of what happened yesterday really sunk in until last night and then it hit me that we’d really lost our chance to win the world championship. So, happy to be able to go out tomorrow and give it a push. To run with the top guys is a nice feeling but bitter sweet because we could have been in the fight.”

Sébastien Loeb (The Dacia Sandriders): “It was very difficult. Some very bad places to pass and very bad oueds, so quite tricky for the navigation. Sometimes I was alone doing my line, I don’t know where the others went. A hard day.”

Nasser Al Attiyah (The Dacia Sandriders): “I had a good day. No problems, Fabian did good navigation – we open and nobody catch us. Our stage result could be good for tomorrow.”

Lucas Moraes (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC): “We only had one puncture. It was a very slow puncture and we tried to manage it but in the end we had to change. I think Nasser took some time off us but we will try our best tomorrow.”

Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy Honda HRC): “Went pretty good. I was a bit worried at the beginning because we knew the navigation wasn’t going to be easy. My mission was to open from the beginning to the end and we did it. So happy for that. I don’t know nothing about the results but we did a good job and took all the bonus.”

Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing): “Difficult to see this morning, starting third with the dust and with the sun it was hard. After a rough day yesterday I was pretty sore this morning. I struggled a far bit getting into the groove again and had a couple of sketchy moments. A few little mistakes and didn’t feel myself but we felt better near the end. Looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully mix it up a little more and try something different for the set up.”

Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy Honda HRC): “It was good. Dude Tosha and Daniel are riding really well. I don’t have that recipe yet. We’re not far off. We’ve just got to focus on a couple of areas but they’re riding really well and it is hard to keep the pace that they are holding. At the end of the day I’m just happy to be at the end of stage 3. It is a battle between me and Tosha for the championship. I’m not too worried about that and I think Tosha wants to win the race more than focus on the championship so he’s pushing really hard and Daniel is pushing just as hard. They’re basically gone and I’m just trying to hold onto third.”

Michael Docherty (BAS World KTM): “Felt like I had a really good day going. Felt like I had good pace. Then literally right after my refuelling my tablet just stopped working. I tried to follow the lines as good as I could and then at one point I could not see any lines so I just stopped and waited for Lorenzo to come and followed him. And then maybe 20 kays from the end my tablet started working again and I got on the gas to the finish line.”