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2023 Rallye du Maroc: 136 riders make up FIM grid
The most recent World Rally-Raid Championship round, the Desafío Ruta 40 in late August, had ninety-nine total competitors across every class. The W2RC season-ending Rallye du Maroc‘s Rally2 category alone came so close to equating that with a whopping ninety-seven, the most in 2023 and even beating the Dakar Rally by one.
While Rally2 tends to be the largest class with its concentration of amateur and developmental riders, the Rallye du Maroc in particular frequently draws entries in excess of eighty or even ninety. The 2021 race had ninety while 2022 saw ninety-three.
By comparison, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge had the most behind Morocco and Dakar with just twenty-nine. The Sonora Rally featured fourteen while Desafío Ruta 40 had nineteen. The stark dichotomy can be simultaneously attributed to Morocco being a popular rally raid hub while the rally is typically used as a final dress rehearsal for those entering the Dakar.
To this end, many of the non-championship Rally2 riders in Morocco with their last W2RC action being the season opener at the Dakar or another one-off later in the calendar. Fabien Domas, Mathieu Dovèze, Tomás de Gavardo, and Thomas Kongshøj are among those who fall under the former, while the latter camp includes Sunier, Diego Llanos, and Modestas Siliunas. Marshall Méplon is a W2RC newcomer. Samuel Fremy, who last raced at Dakar in 2022, returns to Morocco for his first entry since 2021.
Tobias Ebster will race in Morocco for the first time after punching his 2024 Dakar Rally ticket by winning the ADDC. Javier Campos, Borja Pérez Casimiro, and Sébastien Herbet are running their inaugural championship races of the year to prepare for Dakar.
Others like Romain Bouzigon, Matthieu Jauffraud, Toby Hederics, Maxime Pouponnot, Jonathan Savel, and Carl and Craig Searles have more long-term plans with their Rallye du Maroc entries as part of their Dakar 2025 roadmap.
Forty-six Rally2 competitors are entered in the Road to Dakar subcategory, whose winner will earn free registration for the 2024 or 2025 Dakar Rally. While those like Siliunas have already been accepted for the 2024 edition, an RtD win would ease some financial burden for them. Conversely, an outstanding performance can also flip a Dakar rejection into an acceptance.
W2RC Rally3 champion Amine Echiguer will move up to Rally2. Sunier and Neels Theric, who raced at Dakar and Sonora, will lead a four-man effort for Kove Moto alongside Fang Xiangling and new factory rider Xavier Flick; the former joined the team at the Taklimakan Rally in May.
Among those fighting for the Rally2 championship, Romain Dumontier enters with a thirteen-point lead on Paolo Lucci and twenty-one over Jean-Loup Lepan.
Christian Aboud, Souleymane Addahri, Guillaume Borne, Mamadou Boucoum, and Cheikh Yves Jacquemain are representing the Africa Rally Team, a nine-person programme created by the Rallye du Maroc to cultivate local rally raiders.
The expanded field also applies to RallyGP, where the usual crew has some new and returning company. Perhaps the most notable face is the return of Skyler Howes, who has traded in his blue Husqvarna firesuit for the red of Monster Energy Honda Rally Team. Alongside the five Honda factory riders, non-W2RC competitor Tosha Schareina hopes to go back-to-back after winning the DR 40.
After last appearing at Dakar, Sherco Factory Racing is back with RallyGP bikes for Rui Gonçalves, Harith Noah, and Lorenzo Santolino. The manufacturer figures to turn their luck around after Gonçalves and Noah retired from Dakar, while Santolino will try to recapture his magic from that race as he finished ninth overall.
Dakar champion Kevin Benavides and Sonora winner Daniel Sanders miss their second straight round with injuries. The former’s brother Luciano Benavides enters Morocco as the points leader with just nine points on Toby Price and fourteen on Adrien Van Beveren.
Thirteen make up the Rally3 class, which appears for the third time in 2023 after Sonora and Argentina; the Morocco effect also applies here as those rounds had a paltry three riders each. Ardit Kurtaj hopes to clinch the championship as he leads Sonora victor Massimo Camurri by twenty points; Alexander Chepurkó, the only other rider in the field to have raced in 2023, is twenty-nine points back.
Although he skipped the DR 40, Laisvydas Kancius remains atop the Quad standings with a sixteen-point advantage over Rodolfo Guillioli. Defending champion Alexandre Giroud will run his first race since winning Dakar.
CFMOTO, a Chinese manufacturer like Kove, returns after scoring a Quad podium at Abu Dhabi, with Gaëtan Martinez and Mindaugas Skudutis competing under the CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team banner. Team manager Antanas Kanopkinas will not take part due to injury sustained in a crash at the Dinaric Rally in August while Adomas Gančierius, who scored the ADDC podium, is entered in an SSV with Algirdas Talutis.
The Rallye du Maroc runs from 13 to 18 October.
FIM entry list
RallyGP
| Number | Rider | Team | Bike |
| 1 | Sam Sunderland | Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing | GasGas 450 Rally Factory |
| 2 | Ricky Brabec | Monster Energy Honda Rally Team | Honda CRF 450 Rally |
| 7 | Pablo Quintanilla | Monster Energy Honda Rally Team | Honda CRF 450 Rally |
| 8 | Toby Price | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM 450 Rally Factory |
| 10 | Skyler Howes | Monster Energy Honda Rally Team | Honda CRF 450 Rally |
| 11 | José Ignacio Cornejo | Monster Energy Honda Rally Team | Honda CRF 450 Rally |
| 14 | Sebastian Bühler | Hero MrotoSports | Hero 450 |
| 15 | Lorenzo Santolino* | Sherco Factory Racing | Sherco 450 Rally |
| 16 | Ross Branch | Hero MotoSports | Hero 450 |
| 19 | Rui Gonçalves* | Sherco Factory Racing | Sherco 450 Rally |
| 20 | Harith Noah* | Sherco Factory Racing | Sherco 450 Rally |
| 27 | Joaquim Rodrigues | Hero MotoSports | HEro 450 |
| 42 | Adrien Van Beveren | Monster Energy Honda Rally Team | Honda CRF 450 Rally |
| 52 | Matthias Walkner | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM 450 Rally Factory |
| 68 | Tosha Schareina* | Honda Team | Honda CRF 450 Rally |
| 77 | Luciano Benavides | Husqvarna Factory Racing | Husqvarna 450 Rally Factory |
Rally2
| Number | Rider | Team | Bike |
| 30 | Romain Dumontier | Team Dumontier Racing | Husqvarna 450 Rally |
| 31 | Paolo Lucci | BAS World KTM Racing Team | KTM 450 Rally Factory Replica |
| 32 | Bradley Cox | BAS World KTM Racing Team | KTM 450 Rally Factory Replica |
| 33 | Michael Docherty | BAS World KTM Racing Team | KTM 450 Rally Factory Replica |
| 34 | Konrad Dąbrowski | DUUST Diverse Racing | KTM 450 Rally Factory Replica |
| 36 | Dominique Cizeau Girault | Xraids Experience | KTM 450 Rally Factory Replica |
| 37 | Mathieu Dovèze* | BAS World KTM Racing Team | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 38 | Neels Theric* | Kove Moto | Kove 450 Rally |
| 39 | Benjamin Melot* | Team Esprit KTM | KTM 450 Rally |
| 40 | Jon Florea* | Gerula Racing | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 41 | Jeremy Miroir* | Fantic Rally Team | Fantic 450 Rally |
| 43 | Jan Brabec* | Strojrent Racing | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 44 | Tommaso Montanari* | Fantic Rally Team | Fantic 450 Rally |
| 45 | Sunier* | Kove Moto | Kove 450 Rally |
| 46 | Cesar Rojo* | BAS World KTM Racing Team | KTM 450 Rally Factory Replica |
| 48 | Jeremy Poncet* | Xtrem Garage | Husqvarna 450 Rally Replica |
| 49 | Fang Xiangliang* | Kove Moto | Kove 450 Rally |
| 50 | Thomas Georgin* | Enduro Normandie Rally Team | Husqvarna 450 Rally |
| 51 | Mathieu Girard* | Nomade Racing | KTM 450 Rally |
| 53 | Thomas Kongshøj* | Joyride Race Service | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 54 | Josep Pedró Subirats* | Xraids Experience | Husqvarna 450 Rally Replica |
| 55 | Max Bianucci* | Nomade Racing | Husqvarna 450 Rally Replica |
| 56 | Rémy Brochart* | RM Nature et Énergie | KTM 450 Rally |
| 57 | Gad Nachmani* | Club Aventura Touareg | KTM 450 Rally |
| 58 | Dennis Mildenberger* | Nomadas Adventure | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 59 | Darren Goodman* | Nomadas Adventure | KTM 450 EXC-F |
| 61 | Jim Moisa* | Enduro Normandie Rally Team | Husqvarna 450 Rally Replica |
| 62 | Frédéric Grignion* | RM Nature et Énergie | KTM 450 Rally |
| 63 | Javier Campos* | Javier Campos | KTM 450 Rally |
| 64 | Modestas Siliunas* | AG Dakar School | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 65 | Arnaud Domet* | DOM Team | GasGas 450 Rally Replica |
| 66 | Bertrand Domet* | DOM Team | GasGas 450 Rally Replica |
| 67 | Bruno Leblanc* | Bruno Leblanc | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 69 | Jorge Escobedo Gil* | Pedrega Team | Husqvarna 450 Rally Replica |
| 70 | Jérôme Bas* | Team Giroud Universal Ride | KTM 450 Rally Factory Replica |
| 71 | Toby Hederics* | BAS World KTM Racing Team | KTM 450 Rally Factory Replica |
| 72 | Tomás de Gavardo* | BAS World KTM Racing Team | KTM 450 Rally Factory Replica |
| 73 | Matthieu Jauffraud* | Matthieu Jauffraud | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 74 | Mathieu Feuvrier* | Nomade Racing | Husqvarna 450 Rally Replica |
| 76 | Jean-Loup Lepan | DUUST Diverse Racing | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 78 | Stéphane Bouvier* | Team BS Adventure | Yamaha WR450F Rally Replica |
| 79 | Amine Echiguer* | Amine Echiguer | KTM 450 Rally |
| 80 | Mykolas Paulavicius* | Mykolas Paulavicius Dakar Team | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 81 | Jonathan Savel* | Jonathan Savel | KTM 450 Rally |
| 82 | Christopher Jautard* | Nomade Racing | KTM 450 Rally |
| 83 | Marshall Méplon* | Marshall Méplon | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 84 | Carl Searles* | Searles2Dakar | Husqvarna FR 450 Rally |
| 85 | Jean-Philippe Révolte* | Révolte Racing | KTM 450 Rally Factory Replica |
| 86 | Guillaume Martin* | Nomade Racing | KTM 450 Rally |
| 87 | Damien Bataller* | Team DB Racing | KTM 450 Rally |
| 88 | Jérémie Gerber* | Nomade Racing | KTM 450 Rally |
| 89 | Paul Costes* | Nomade Racing | Husqvarna 450 Rally Replica |
| 90 | Adrien Costes* | Nomade Racing | KTM 450 Rally |
| 91 | Samuel Fremy* | Nomade Racing | KTM 450 Rally |
| 92 | Gediminas Satkus* | Gediminas Satkus | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 93 | Julien Jagu* | Julien Jagu | GasGas 450 Rally Replica |
| 94 | Alexandre Vaudan* | Team Casteu | KTM 450 Rally |
| 95 | Rémy Moreau* | Nomade Racing | KTM 450 Rally |
| 96 | Frédéric Baudry* | Nomade Racing | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 97 | Maxime Pouponnet* | Team Maxime Pouponnet | Fantic 450 Rally |
| 98 | Fabien Domas* | Drag’on Rally Team | GasGas 450 Rally Replica |
| 99 | Craig Searles* | Searles2Dakar | Husqvarna FR 450 Rally |
| 100 | Stéphane Brunaud* | Nomade Racing | KTM 450 Rally |
| 101 | Guillaume Rosier* | Guillaume Rosier | KTM 450 EXC-F |
| 102 | Borja Pérez Casimiro* | Borja Pérez Casimiro | Husqvarna FR 450 Rally |
| 103 | Loïc Peyrichout* | Team LPC | Husqvarna 450 Rally Replica |
| 104 | Benjamin Bourdariat* | RS Concept Team | KTM 450 EXC-F |
| 105 | Martin Prokeš* | Orion – Moto Racing Group | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 106 | Jaromir Romančík* | Orion – Moto Racing Group | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 107 | Dušan Drdaj* | Orion – Moto Racing Group | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 108 | Julien Dalbec* | Nomade Racing | KTM 450 Rally |
| 109 | Diego Llanos* | Xraids Experience | KTM 450 Rally Factory Replica |
| 110 | Salvador Guiomar Vargas* | Xraids Experience | Husqvarna FR 450 Rally |
| 112 | Sébastien Herbet* | Team Dumontier Racing | Husqvarna 450 Rally |
| 113 | Perrick Demonceaux* | Dems Machine | Husqvarna 450 Rally Replica |
| 114 | Alexandre Yon* | Enduro Normandie Rally Team | Husqvarna FE 450 |
| 115 | Adrien Roland* | RM Nature et Énergie | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 116 | Slawomir Sypien* | DUUST Diverse Racing | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 117 | Jakub Krezymon* | DUUST Diverse Racing | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 118 | Benjamin Lepelley* | Team Dumontier Racing | Husqvarna 450 Rally |
| 119 | Steff Rowe* # | Steff Rowe | KTM 450 Rally |
| 120 | Ramon Vidal Bregante* | Ramon Vidal Bregante | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 121 | John Spelier* | HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing | Husqvarna FR 450 Rally |
| 122 | Weston Carr* | HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing | Husqvarna FR 450 Rally |
| 123 | Fabian Von Thuengen* | HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing | Husqvarna FR 450 Rally |
| 124 | Axel Mustad* | HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing | Husqvarna FR 450 Rally |
| 125 | Ganzorig Chuluun* | HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing | Husqvarna FR 450 Rally |
| 126 | Gioele Meoni* | Dakar 4 Dakar | KTM 450 Rally |
| 127 | Ferran Zaragoza Rosa* | Pedrega Team | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 128 | Clément Artaud* | Team Dumontier Racing | Husqvarna FE 450 |
| 129 | Xavier Flick* | Kove Moto | Kove 450 Rally |
| 131 | Jane Daniels* # | Fantic Rally Team | Fantic 450 Rally |
| 133 | Yael Kadshai* # | Nomade Racing | GasGas RX 450F |
| 134 | Christian Aboud | Africa Rallye Team | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 136 | Guillaume Borne | Africa Rallye Team | Husqvarna 450 Rally |
| 137 | Tobias Ebster* | Kini Rally Racing Team | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
| 139 | Romain Bouzigon | Team Esprit KTM | KTM 450 Rally Replica |
Bold – Junior Trophy competitor
Italics – Veteran Trophy competitor
# – Women’s Trophy competitor
Rally3
| Number | Rider | Team | Bike |
| 150 | Ardit Kurtaj | Xraids Experience | KTM 450 EXC-F |
| 151 | Massimo Camurri | McDonald’s Rally Team | KTM 450 EXC-F |
| 153 | Alexander Chepurkó | Moto Technik Team Silk Rider | KTM 450 EXC-F Six Days |
| 154 | Richárd Hodola | Richárd Hodola | KTM 450 EXC |
| 155 | Timothée Vacherand | Team S-PassMoto | KTM 450 EXC |
| 156 | Mathilde Delsaux | Team S-PassMoto | KTM 450 EXC |
| 157 | Hugues Deliège | Team S-PassMoto | KTM 450 EXC |
| 158 | Alexis Van de Woestyne | Team S-PassMoto | KTM 350 |
| 161 | Jean-Luc Taormina | Taormina | KTM 450 |
| 162 | Romain Monnot | Romain Monnot | Husqvarna 450 FE |
| 163 | Mamadou Boucoum | Africa Rallye Team | KTM 450 EXC-F |
| 164 | Cheikh Yves Jacquemain | Africa Rallye Team | KTM 450 EXC-F |
| 165 | Souleymane Addahri | Africa Rallye Team | Husqvarna 450 FE |
Quad
| Number | Rider | Team | Quad |
| 180 | Laisvydas Kancius | Story Racing SRO | Yamaha Raptor 700 |
| 181 | Rodolfo Guillioli | Pepitas Racing Team | Yamaha Raptor 701 |
| 182 | Juraj Varga | Varga Motorsport | Yamaha Raptor 702 |
| 183 | Manuel Andújar | 7240 Team | Yamaha Raptor 703 |
| 184 | Semuel Desbuisson* | Drag’on Rally Team | Yamaha Raptor 704 |
| 185 | Toni Vingut* | Visit Sant Antoni – Ibiza | Yamaha Raptor 705 |
| 186 | Alexandre Giroud* | Drag’on Rally Team | Yamaha Raptor 706 |
| 187 | Jérôme Connart* | Team Giroud | Yamaha Raptor 707 |
| 188 | Mindaugas Skudutis | CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team | CFMOTO CFORCE 1000 |
| 189 | Gaëtan Martinez | CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team | CFMOTO CFORCE 1000 |
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