2023 Rallye du Maroc: 102 on FIA entry list, 9 comprise Open entries

The 2023 World Rally-Raid Championship will come to a close at the Rallye du Maroc, where 102 entries across five FIA classes are preparing for the 2024 Dakar Rally and/or making a last push for the titles. Combined with the 136 riders from the FIM side, there are 238 total entries for the rally.

Pending disaster, Nasser Al-Attiyah has his second consecutive W2RC crown all but wrapped up as he leads Yazeed Al-Rajhi by 51 points and only needs four more to clinch.

After skipping the Desafío Ruta 40, Bahrain Raid Xtreme returns for Morocco with a four-pronged attack led by Sébastien Loeb. Orlando Terranova returns for his second start after Dakar. Brothers Cristian and Marcos Baumgart, customers of Prodrive starting in 2023, impressed in their W2RC début at Sonora with a pair of stage podiums.

Guerlain Chicherit, who won the 2022 Rallye du Maroc in a Prodrive Hunter, has switched to a Toyota Hilux from Overdrive Racing. Besides championship contenders Al-Rajhi and Juan Cruz Yacopini, Overdrive retains Denis Krotov who joined the team in Argentina along with part-timer Eugenio Amos. T3 regular Guillaume de Mévius will make his T1 début in a Hilux from the team.

Martin Prokop and his Ford Raptor makes his return after skipping the American rounds. Elsewhere in the Ford T1 camp, Nani Roma will pilot M-Sport’s long-hyped Ford Ranger T1+ in its maiden W2RC start after finishing sixth in the truck’s first race at the Baja España Aragón in July.

Team Audi Sport will prepare for their swan song Dakar by fielding the usual trio of Mattias Ekström, Stéphane Peterhansel, and Carlos Sainz. After a disastrous 2023 Dakar, only Ekström has continued racing in the world championship albeit in a T3 for South Racing.

Ekström is not the only driver switching classes for Morocco as others try to gain early experience in their new seats before 2024. Most notably, Rokas Baciuška moves up to T3 having already clinched his second straight T4 title, as have the Goczał family of Dakar T4 champion Eryk, his father Marek, and uncle Michal. While drivers usually move up from T4 to T3, João Ferreira is doing the opposite as he will race a T4 for South Racing after running the entire season in a Yamaha T3. Another T4 driver Pau Navarro has made an even greater leap up to T1.

With so much turnover in T4, Shinsuke Umeda is the only driver to have run all five rounds in the class. Too far back to catch Baciuška while the part-time Rebecca Busi is the next closest championship rival in seventh, Umeda has secured second in the standings.

The trucks of T5 will appear for just their second race of 2023 after Dakar; their short calendar compared to the other categories contributed to the loss of a T5 championship for 2024. All three drivers who earned T5 points at Dakar are entered, with winner Janus van Kasteren leading Martin Macík Jr. 113 to 102; Tomas Vratny has 66 points.

Anja Van Loon is racing a truck after contesting Dakar and the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in a T3, leading an all-female crew with Marije van Ettekoven and Floor Maten. Her husband Erik Van Loon, whom she raced against in Abu Dhabi, remains in a Light Prototype.

In a contrast to Anja’s move, Kees Koolen will pilot a T3 after winning the inaugural W2RC T5 title in 2022. Koolen is part of the largest FIA class at Morocco with thirty-seven total entries.

T3 also has the closest championship battle as Mitch Guthrie holds on to three- and nine-point advantages over American Red Bull team-mates Austin Jones and Seth Quintero, respectively.

Elsewhere in T3, Claude Fournier will run his first race in an MCE-5 Taurus T3 Max like Guthrie; Fournier’s team BBR Motorsport had forged a partnership with MCE-5 Development in July. Paul Spierings and Roger Grouwels will unveil their new partnership Dakar Team Spierings RaceArt in the class.

Lukas Lauda, the eldest son of Formula One legend Niki Lauda, is in a T3 prepared by South Racing. The younger Lauda elected not to follow in his father’s footsteps and instead launched a managerial career, representing clients like his brother Mathias, before making his rally début at the Hellas Rally Raid in 2022.

T4 drivers Adrien Choblet and Hervé Guillaume will compete to win the Road to Dakar for SSV entries, which would grant them free registration for the 2024 Dakar Rally. Sara Price, who won the Road to Dakar at the Sonora Rally, is running her first race as an FIA W2RC driver.

Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body‘s Akira Miura and Ronald Basso make up the lone entries in T2; Basso defeated Miura for the 2023 Dakar Rally win. Miura will have a new co-driver Mayeul Barbet for Morocco onwards as his usual navigator Laurent Lichtleuchter died in an accident at the Morocco Desert Challenge in April.W2RC driver at Morocco. T2 does not have a championship.

Among the nine Open entries are Charif Guessous and Sofia Skiredj as part of the Africa Rallye Team, a programme organised by the Rallye du Maroc to support local racers. Adomas Gančierius, who finished third in Quad at Abu Dhabi, is the co-driver for the Open SSV of Talutis Algirdas.

The Rallye du Maroc runs from 13 to 18 October.

FIA entry list

T1

Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Vehicle	Class
200	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Mathieu Baumel	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Toyota GR DKR Hilux	T1+
201	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	Timo Gottschalk	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux Overdrive	T1+
202	Juan Cruz Yacopini	Daniel Oliveiras	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux Overdrive	T1+
203	Sébastien Loeb	Fabian Lurquin	Bahrain Raid Xtreme	Prodrive Hunter	T1+
205	Martin Prokop	Viktor Chytka	ORLEN Benzina Team	Ford Raptor RS Cross Country	T1+
206	Mattias Ekström	Emil Bergkvist	Team Audi Sport	Audi RS Q e-tron E2	T1.U
207	Guerlain Chicherit	Alex Winocq	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux Overdrive	T1+
208	Stéphane Peterhansel	Édouard Boulanger	Team Audi Sport	Audi RS Q e-tron E2	T1.U
209	Carlos Sainz	Lucas Cruz	Team Audi Sport	Audi RS Q e-tron E2	T1.U
210	Denis Krotov	Konstantin Zhiltsov	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux Overdrive	T1+
211	Nani Roma*	Alex Haro Bravo	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford Ranger	T1+
212	Krzysztof Hołowczyc	Łukasz Kurzeja	X-raid Team	Mini John Cooper Works Rally Plus	T1+
214	Mathieu Serradori	Loïc Minaudier	Century Racing	Century CR6-T	T1.2
215	Orlando Terranova	Bernardo Graue	Bahrain Raid Xtreme	Prodrive Hunter	T1+
216	Guillaume de Mévius*	François Cazalet	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux Overdrive	T1+
217	Jean-Luc Ceccaldi	Thomas Gaidella	MD Rallye Sport	MD Optimus	T1.2
218	Magdalena Zajac	Jacek Czachor	Proxcars TME Rally Team	Toyota Hilux	T1.1
219	Pau Navarro	Gonçalo Reis	FN Speed Team	Toyota Hilux	T1.1
222	Cristian Baumgart*	Alberto Andreotti	Bahrain Raid Xtreme	Prodrive Hunter	T1+
223	Marcos Baumgart*	Kleber Cincea	Bahrain Raid Xtreme	Prodrive Hunter	T1+
225	Eugenio Amos*	Paolo Ceci	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux Overdrive	T1+
226	Simon Vitse*	Frédéric Lefebvre	MD Rallye Sport	MD Optimus EVO 5	T1.2
227	Isidre Esteve*	José Maria Villalobos Valcarcel	Repsol Toyota Rally Team	Toyota Hilux	T1+
228	Lionel Baud*	Lucie Baud	Century Racing	Century CR6	T1.2
229	Maik Willems*	Robert Van Pelt	Dakar Team Van Eikeren	Toyota Hilux	T1.1
230	Jean-Rémy Bergounhe*	Lionel Costes	MD Rallye Sport	MD Optimus	T1.2
231	Daniel Alonso Villaron*	Alejandro Lopez Fernandez	Past Racing	Ford Ranger	T1.1
232	Benoit Fretin*	Cédric Duplé	YDEO Competition	Century CR6	T1.2
233	Urvo Männama*	Risto Lepik	Rally Raid Estonia	Century CR6-T	T1.2
234	Gintas Petrus*	Jose Marques	Toyota Gazoo Racing Baltics	MD Optimus	T1.2
235	Michael Van Eikeren*	Jasper Riezebos	Dakar Team Van Eikeren	Century CR6	T1.2
236	Patrice Étienne*	Antoine Sanchez	YDEO Competition	Century CR6	T1.2
237	Frédéric Tuheil*	Jean-Jacques Martinez	Sodicars Racing	Toyota RAV4	T1.1
238	Henk de Jong*	Pieter van Kruijsdijk	Dakar Team Van Eikeren	Toyota Hilux	T1.1

* – Not competing in World Rally-Raid Championship

T2

Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Vehicle
250	Akira Miura*	Mayeul Barbet	Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body	Toyota Land Cruiser 300 GR
251	Ronald Basso*	Jean-Michel Polato	Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body	Toyota Land Cruiser 300 GR

T3

Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Vehicle
300	Mitch Guthrie	Kellon Walch	Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team	MCE-5 Taurus T3 Max
301	Austin Jones	Gustavo Gugelmin	Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team	Can-Am Maverick X3
302	Seth Quintero	Dennis Zenz	Red Bull Can-Am Factory Racing	Can-Am Maverick X3
303	Cristina Gutiérrez	Pablo Moreno Huete	Red Bull Can-Am Factory Racing	Can-Am Maverick X3
304	Francisco Lopéz Contardo	Diego Ortega Gil	Red Bull Can-Am Factory Racing	Can-Am Maverick X3
306	David Zille	Sebastian Cesana	South Racing Can-Am	Can-Am Maverick X3
307	Erik Van Loon	Henrie Verschuuren	South Racing Can-Am	Can-Am Maverick X3
308	Rokas Baciuška	Oriol Vidal Montijano	Red Bull Can-Am Factory Racing	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo
309	Kees Koolen	Wouter Rosegaar	GRallyTeam	GRallyTeam OT3
312	Dania Akeel	Taye Perry	Wevers Sport	MCE-5 Taurus T3 Max
314	Eryk Goczał	Oriol Mena	EnergyLandia Rally Team	MCE-5 Taurus T3 Max
315	Michal Goczał	Szymon Gospodarczyk	EnergyLandia Rally Team	MCE-5 Taurus T3 Max
316	Marek Goczał	Maciej Marton	EnergyLandia Rally Team	MCE-5 Taurus T3 Max
317	Claude Fournier	Patrick Antoniolli	BBR Motorsport	MMP Rally Raid T3
318	Ignacio Casale*	Alvaro Leon	X-raid Team	Yamaha YXZ1000R Turbo Prototype
319	Hernán Garcés*	Juan Pablo Latrach	South Racing Can-Am	Can-Am Maverick X3
320	Lucas Del Rio*	Bruno Jacomy	South Racing Can-Am	Can-Am Maverick X3
321	Oscar Ral Verdu*	Xavier Blanco Garcia	Buggy Masters Team	Can-Am Maverick X3
322	Rui Carneiro*	Manuel Porém	RC Motorsport	MMP Rally Raid T3
323	Tiago Reis*	Valter Cardoso	Santag Racing	Can-Am Maverick X3
324	João Dias*	João Miranda	Santag Racing	Can-Am Maverick X3
325	Pal Lonyai*	Filippo Ippolito	X-raid Team	Yamaha YXZ1000R Turbo Prototype
326	Luis Portela Morais*	David Megre	GRallyTeam	GRallyTeam OT3
327	Romain Locmane*	Charlie Herbst	Quad Bike Evasion	Can-Am Maverick XRS
329	Gert-Jan Van Der Valk*	Branco de Lange	Arcane Racing	Arcane T3
330	Jorge Segura Vidiella*	Sergi Brugue Carreras	FN Speed Team	Can-Am Maverick X3
331	Paul Spierings*	Jan Pieter van der Stelt	Dakar Team Spierings RaceArt	Can-Am Maverick X3
332	Lukas Lauda*	Stefan Henken	South Racing Can-Am	Can-Am Maverick
333	Lex Peters*	Wouter de Graaff	Arcane Racing	Arcane T3
334	Mário Franco*	Rui Franco	Franco Sport	Yamaha YXZ1000R Turbo Prototype
335	William Buller*	Jordão Daniel	Franco Sport	Yamaha YXZ1000R Turbo Prototype
336	Roger Grouwels*	Ronald Van Nederpelt	Dakar Team Spierings RaceArt	Can-Am Maverick X3
337	Freddy Fast*	Alexander Toril	South Racing Can-Am	Can-Am Maverick X3
338	André Van Ginkel*	Tim Rietveld	Arcane Racing	Arcane T3
339	Jean-Denis Piccini*	Stéphane Denécheau	JDV Sports	Polaris Hybrid OT3
340	Marcelo Tiglia Gastaldi*	Carlos Sachs	BBR Motorsport	MCE-5 Taurus T3 Max
341	Andre Hort*	Enio Bozzano Junior	BBR Motorsport	Can-Am Maverick X3

T4

Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Vehicle
400	Shinsuke Umeda	Maurizio Dominella	Xtremeplus	Polaris RZR Pro R Sport
401	Rebecca Busi	Sergio Lafuente	FN Speed Team	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
402	Sebastián Guayasamin	Fernando Matias Acosta	FN Speed Team	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
403	João Ferreira	Filipe Palmeiro	South Racing Can-Am	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
405	Eduard Pons*	Marc Erra Jove	South Racing Can-Am	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
406	Enrico Gaspari*	Ricardo Torlaschi	Xtremeplus	Polaris RZR Pro R Sport
407	Adrien Choblet*	Laurent Magat	Team Casteu	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
408	Robin Szustkowski*	Albert Gryszczuk	Xtremeplus	Polaris RZR Pro R Sport
409	Sebastien Caille*	Max Feldino	Team BTR Caille	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
410	Sara Price*	Jeremy Gray	South Racing Can-Am	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
411	Grzegorz Brochocki*	Grzegorz Komar	Overlimit	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
412	Robert Szustkowski*	Jarosław Kazberuk	Xtremeplus	Polaris RZR Pro R Sport
414	Pascal Henon*	Nicolas Charlier	Drag’onRally Team	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
415	Souad Mouktadiri*	Delphine Delfino	Mouktadiri Racing Team	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
416	Jeremie Renou*	Nicolas Larroquet	YDEO Competition	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
417	Hervé Guillaume*	Maxime Guillaume	BTR-Driverspark	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
418	Victor Étienne*	Valentin Sarreaud	YDEO Competition	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
419	Juan Manuel Maña*	Giovanna di Blasi	Juan Manuel Maña	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
420	William Grarre*	Julien Vincent	Team Horizon Off-Road	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR

T5

Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Mechanic	Team	Vehicle
500	Janus van Kasteren	Darek Rodewald	Marcel Snijders	Team de Rooy	IVECO PowerStar
501	Martin Macík Jr.	František Tomášek	David Švanda	MM Technology	IVECO PowerStar
502	Tomas Vratny	Bartłomiej Boba	Jaromir Martinec	Fesh Fesh Team	Ford Cargo
503	Gerrit Zuurmond*	Tjeerd Van Ballegooy	Klaas Kwakkel	Rainbow Truck Team	MAN TGA
504	Javier Mariezcurrena*	Facun Vitoria Salaberria	Angel Iribarren Sanzberro	Truck Navarra Competición	IVECO 4×4 DRNL
505	Gert Huzink*	Rob Buursen	Martin Roesink	Riwald Dakar Team	Renault C460 Hybrid
506	Michiel Becx*	Wulfert Van Ginkel	Edwin Kuijpers	Team de Rooy	IVECO PowerStar
507	Anja Van Loon*	Marije van Ettekoven	Floor Maten	Team de Rooy	IVECO PowerStar
509	Vaidotas Paskevicius*	Slavomir Volkov	Gytis Gaspariūnas	Fesh Fesh Team	Tatra Jamal
510	Egbert Wingens*	Marijn Beekmans	Jan Paul Van Der Poel	DDW Rallyteam	IVECO Torpedo

Open entry list

Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Vehicle	Class
600	Patrick Prot	Roger Audas	Prot.P	Nissan Oryx	Auto
601	Jérôme Cambier	Pascal Delacour	MD Rallye Sport	MD Hilux Overdrive	Auto
651	Lucas Delmas-Marsalet	Thomas de Saulieu	Quad Bike Evasion	Can-Am Maverick XRS	SSV
652	Joan Alain	Axel Dutrie	Drag’on Rally Team	Can-Am Maverick XRS	SSV
653	Tomas Mickus	Darius Leskauskas	BRO Racing	Can-Am Maverick X3	SSV
654	Fabrice Manté	Pascal Pagand	Fond’cale Racing	Can-Am Maverick X3	SSV
655	Axel Geyskens	Domien Rodiers	QFF Racing	Can-Am Maverick X3	SSV
656	Talutis Algirdas	Adomas Gančierius	BRO Racing	Can-Am Maverick X3	SSV
657	Charif Guessous	Sofia Skiredj	Africa Rallye Team	Can-Am Maverick X3 Turbo RR	SSV