2022 Rallye du Maroc: Al-Attiyah rebounds with Stage 3 lead

Nasser Al-Attiyah‘s Rallye du Maroc Stage #2 was plagued by tyre punctures, but he bounced back on Tuesday as he led the T1 category in the Laâyoune loop with a time of 2:58:24, over a minute faster than Guerlain Chicherit‘s 2:59:45.

Al-Attiyah became the first T1 repeat stage winner after previously claiming the prologue.

The 320-km leg was especially gruelling, and event organiser David Castera had warned it would be the “most difficult” of the race. Jakub Przygonski seized the circumstances for his best finish of the rally so far in third, while Stage #2 winner Sébastien Loeb was seventh as he got lost. The same also occurred to Chicherit, though his runner-up promotes him to the T1 overall lead.

“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,” commented Loeb’s team-mate Orlando Terranova, who finished fourth. “So I said to myself, ‘Okay, drive easy, carefully until the end’, and we are here.”

Stage #1B T1 winner Yazeed Al-Rajhi was leading his class shortly after the halfway point of the leg when the steering rack came off due to a newly installed but improperly tightened part. He remains seventh overall.

Seth Quintero won T3 with a time of 3:17:17. Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team enjoyed a 1–2 finish as Cristina Gutiérrez (3:23:58) followed, but Francisco López Contardo thwarted hopes of a podium sweep as his 3:25:51 beat Guillaume De Mevius‘ 3:28:30. López leads the overall.

“I had an absolutely stunning day today, a lot of fun! We started off very strong and held our pace all day long,” said Quintero. “Glad to walk away with the win and be back in the overall hunt.”

T4’s Rokas Baciuška won the stage to take the overall in the class ahead of Austin Jones by twenty-eight minutes. Previous overall leader Jeremías González Ferioli was fourth and drops to second.

Luciano Benavides beat Skyler Howes for RallyGP by twenty-five minutes, though the latter remains first overall. A sixth place by Toby Price allowed Benavides to pass him for second in the general classification.

Mason Klein continues his Rallye du Maroc Rally2 reign as he won his second stage. Mathieu Dovèze had shown early speed before crashing, which knocked him from fourth to out of overall win contention entirely.

The fourth and penultimate stage will head from Laâyoune back to Tan Tan.

Stage #3 winners

Leaders after Stage #3