2023 Rallye du Maroc: Jacquemain wins Rally3 for ART, Kurtaj scores championship

Cheikh Yves Jacquemain is a seven-time champion of the Senegal Cross-Country Championship who has dreamed of racing the Dakar Rally, and was poised to take part in the 2008 edition before it was cancelled. While the race no longer runs through his home country of Senegal, he was more than eager to showcase himself on the global stage when the World Rally-Raid Championship arrived in Morocco for the Rallye du Maroc.

Competing for the Africa Rallye Team, a programme run by Rallye du Maroc organiser ODC Event to promote domestic rally competitors, Jacquemain did not take long to impress as he won the Rally3 category in his W2RC début by nearly an hour on the field. Fellow ART rider Souleymane Addahri joined him on the overall podium in third.

Jacquemain captured the momentum first by winning the Prologue and Stage #1, and never relinquished the overall lead for the rest of the race. Addahri and Richárd Hodola scored a stage win each, but Jacquemain finished on the podium in all five legs while his margins of victory were significantly greater than theirs. Hodola also completed the podium lockout, but his runner-up to Jacquemain in the first stage was by over eighteen minutes while his Stage #4 win over Jacquemain came by just thirty-three seconds. Addahri’s Stage #2 victory was also by less than a minute on his ART team-mate.

Although not a win, the silver medal is still a strong finish for Hodola after placing sixth in the 2022 edition. He was the lone Rally3 competitor from 2022 to return to the class as those like winner Amine Echiguer and second-placed Guillaume Borne moved up to Rally2.

Ardit Kurtaj was the only other rider with a stage podium when he finished second to Jacquemain in Stage #3, though he was over an hour behind Addahri in the overall. He woke up with an upset stomach for the fourth day, forcing him to ride more conservatively and finishing fourth.

The W2RC Rally3 title turned out to be a wonderful substitute for Pepto-Bismol as Kurtaj clinched the title over Alexander Chepurkó and Massimo Camurri. Kurtaj and Chepurkó entered all three Rally3 rounds in 2023, with the former finishing second to Camurri at the Sonora Rally and winning the Desafío Ruta 40. Both races only featured three entrants compared to the thirteen at Morocco.

Chepurkó placed fifth overall and over two hours back of Kurtaj. After skipping Argentina, Camurri’s title hopes were dashed by a crash in Stage #2; he trailed Kurtaj by twenty entering Morocco. Even though he ran just one race, Jacquemain’s win ranked him joint third in the championship with Camurri.

Rally3 overall results

Finish	Number	Rider	Team	Time	Margin
1	164	Cheikh Yves Jacquemain	Africa Rallye Team	23:41:39	Leader
2	154	Richárd Hodola	Richárd Hodola	24:31:45	+ 50:06
3	165	Souleymane Addahri	Africa Rallye Team	24:41:59	+ 1:00:20
4	150	Ardit Kurtaj	Xraids Experience	25:43:32	+ 2:01:53
5	153	Alexander Chepurkó	Moto Technik Team Silk Rider	28:18:26	+ 4:36:47
6	155	Timothée Vacherand	Team S-PassMoto	31:23:19	+ 7:41:40
7	157	Hugues Deliège	Team S-PassMoto	31:35:09	+ 7:53:30
8	156	Mathilde Delsaux	Team S-PassMoto	31:35:35	+ 7:53:56
9	162	Romain Monnot	Romain Monnot	35:26:23	+ 11:44:44
DNF	151	Massimo Camurri	McDonald’s Rally Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	158	Alexis Van de Woestyne	Team S-PassMoto	DNF	N/A
DNF	161	Jean-Luc Taormina	Taormina	DNF	N/A
DNF	163	Mamadou Boucoum	Africa Rallye Team	DNF	N/A

Rally3 stage winners

Stage	Rider	Time
Prologue	Cheikh Yves Jacquemain	1:06:10.5 (13:14.5)
Stage #1	Cheikh Yves Jacquemain	4:58:31
Stage #2	Souleymane Addahri	4:42:48
Stage #3	Cheikh Yves Jacquemain	4:20:23
Stage #4	Richárd Hodola	5:34:09
Stage #5	Souleymane Addahri	2:44:51

Overall winners

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Time
T1	201	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	Toyota Gazoo Racing	14:49:09
T2	251	Ronald Basso*	Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body	22:14:17
T3	315	Marek Goczał	EnergyLandia Rally Team	16:22:12
T4	403	João Ferreira	South Racing Can-Am	18:26:24
T5	506	Michiel Becx*	Team de Rooy	21:32:34
RallyGP	8	Toby Price	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	15:56:43
Rally2	32	Bradley Cox	BAS World KTM Racing Team	17:06:37
Rally3	164	Cheikh Yves Jacquemain	Africa Rallye Team	23:42:39
Quad	186	Alexandre Giroud*	Drag’on Rally Team	21:07:24
Open Auto	601	Jérôme Cambier*	MD Rallye Sport	21:21:46
Open SSV	653	Tomas Mickus*	BRO Racing	21:42:23
Road to Dakar Bike	71	Toby Hederics*	BAS World KTM Racing Team	19:11:16
Road to Dakar SSV	420	William Grarre*	Team Horizon Off-Road	21:50:39

* – Not competing in World Rally-Raid Championship

W2RC Rally3 standings

Rank	Rider	Points	Margin
1	Ardit Kurtaj	58	Leader
2	Alexander Chepurkó	27	– 31
T-3	Massimo Camurri	25	– 33
T-3	Cheikh Yves Jacquemain	25	– 33
T-5	Mauricio Cueva	20	– 38
T-5	Richárd Hodola	20	– 38
T-7	Leo Dari	16	– 42
T-7	Souleymane Addahri	16	– 42
9	Timothée Vacherand	10	– 48
10	Hugues Deliège	9	– 49