2024 Rallye du Maroc: Goczals, Tauruses sweep Stage 2

The folks at MCE-5 Development and Wevers Sport must be elated at how their creation fared in Tuesday’s Rallye du Maroc stage. Taurus T3 Max drivers swept the top eight in the Challenger category, while their new works programme EnergyLandia Taurus Factory Team finished first, second, and third in class with Michał Goczał leading the way.

The Goczał family dominated Stage #2 from start to finish. Michał and his brother Marek Goczał battled for the lead throughout the day, while the latter’s son Eryk Goczał fell behind early due to a tyre puncture but worked his way back up the order. He passed his father halfway before both of them got by Taurus colleague Mitch Guthrie of Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team in the final sixty kilometres.

BBR Motorsport drivers filled the next spots with Marcelo Gastaldi, Khalifa Al-Attiyah, Nicolás Cavigliasso, and Dania Akeel. The Arcane T3 of Hans Weijs Jr. and G Rally OT3 of Rui Carneiro rounded out the top ten.

Even without the Taurus onslaught, Tuesday was an uncharacteristically bad outing for Can-Am in Challenger. Points leader Rokas Baciuška finished eleventh after the belt on his Maverick snapped twice, but maintains his advantage in the standings because Cavigliasso’s sixth means he missed out on bonus points awarded to the top five. Baciuška leads Cavigliasso by 42 points and can secure the Challenger title if he beats the latter at any point or Cavigliasso fails to win two of the last three legs.

Al-Attiyah’s brother Nasser Al-Attiyah battled with his former ride at Toyota Gazoo Racing, now piloted by Lucas Moraes, for the Ultimate stage win. Although Nasser rapidly closed the gap after the final waypoint, he ran out of time as Moraes beat him by thirteen seconds. His Dacia colleague Sébastien Loeb joined him on the class podium after holding off Guillaume de Mévius with a fifteen-second edge.

The runner-up earns Nasser Al-Attiyah four bonus points and more breathing room in the championship. Rival Yazeed Al-Rajhi finished ninth and thus did not receive additional points, causing the gap between them to increase to thirty.

“After yesterday, I was not happy with myself. I had a hard time sleeping, thinking, ‘Okay, maybe I don’t know how to drive in the desert anymore,’” quipped Moraes. “But we found good pace in the beginning. To be honest, I was kind of waiting for Loeb to be closer than us but I was looking in the dunes, he was still back, so our pace was quite good.”

Like in Stage #1, Yasir Seaidan beat Sebastián Guayasamín for the SSV stage win. Guayasamín was third with Fidel Castillo Ruiz sandwiched between them and second among points-earning drivers, meaning he received four points as he did on Monday. Consequently, Seaidan only reduced his deficit to four.

While many of the FIA drivers are jockeying for titles, Ross Branch is playing it safe. Ricky Brabec‘s retirement on Monday means Branch simply needs to complete the rally to secure the RallyGP championship regardless of his finishing position. This, coupled with the disadvantages that comes with being the first rider on course, led to him finishing ninth in class and eleventh among all bikes.

Branch’s strategy is all the more critical after his Hero MotoSports team-mate Sebastian Bühler crashed 142 kilometres into the leg while running second. Bradley Cox and Adrien Van Beveren stopped to provide assistance and he was airlifted to hospital on Zagora.

“The tracks here are incredibly challenging, and keeps you on your toes throughout,” said Branch. “After some navigational challenges yesterday, today felt much smoother. Ricky’s crash yesterday really changed the game for us, reminding us that even small mistakes can have big consequences. So now, I’m focused on playing the long game and prioritising a safe finish every day.”

With Branch coasting, Tosha Schareina led a Honda 1–2 ahead of Van Beveren. The latter is mathematically still in contention, but needs Branch to retire while he finishes second or better to steal the title.

In Rally2, Cox had a monster run in the closing stretch to pass leader Edgar Canet and win his second straight stage. With Romain Dumontier finishing fifth, Cox now has nearly twenty-and-a-half minutes on the reigning champion in his pursuit for the trophy.

Jean-Loup Lepan, fourth in Rally2 points, retired after crashing at KM 145. He is the second points-earning rider in the class to bow out after Mathieu Dovèze hurt his shoulder in a crash on Monday. Dovèze’s BAS World KTM Racing Team ally Francisco Arredondo withdrew due to illness.

Stage #1 Open Car winner Carlos Sainz did not start Tuesday’s special due to a mechanical issue. As an FIA Platinum-ranked driver, he is permitted to rejoin the race on Wednesday. In his place, Mattias Ekström continued on.

“This morning, I fired up the car and we saw an issue with the data,” Sainz began. “The team decided to check it properly and not take the risk to go out with the car and break something at this point of the rally, or of our preparation, it’s not the right thing to do. We decided to quit and this is what we are doing.

“I hope I can continue tomorrow and put in some mileage in the car. Yesterday was a positive day even if we still have some small issues.”

Stage #2 winners

Leaders after Stage #2