2024 Rallye du Maroc: Yasir Seaidan takes SSV title in final stretch

Of the seven World Rally-Raid Championship categories that awarded a title in 2024, SSV featured the closest points battle entering the final race at the Rallye du Maroc. Sebastián Guayasamín was hanging on to a six-point advantage over Yasir Seaidan, though factoring in stage points meant the latter needed some help from his fellow rivals to throw a wrench into Guayasamín’s lead in order to pass him.

Fortunately for the Saudi, the desert profile of Morocco worked perfectly in his favour and the large SSV grid did some interference. Seaidan was the only points-earning SSV driver to win a stage outright in Morocco, and was the best finisher among such competitors in four of five legs to maximise his points.

Although Guayasamín kept pace with W2RC driver podiums in every stage, Seaidan’s bonus points sliced the gap enough until he simply had to beat Guayasamín in the overall to win the title. This was made all the easier as he went into the last stage leading him by 14:38.

Seaidan delivered the coup de grâce with a runner-up finish outright and tops among W2RC racers in Stage #5. Although Guayasamín finished second for such drivers, Seaidan nipped him for the title by just two points.

The title is his first at the international level after claiming the 2013 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies in the T3 (now Challenger) category. He is also the first Saudi driver to win a W2RC trophy since its inception in 2022.

After the race, Guayasamín filed a protest against Seaidan claiming he had a non-functioning right-front wheel while on public roads in the post-Stage #4 liaison. Under Article 27.1.9 of the FIA’s cross-country rally regulations, a car that is “on a road section that is a public road” must “be driven on four freely rotating wheels and tyres,” with violators automatically being ruled as a stage retirement. Seaidan explained the right-front suspension had broken in the Selective Section but was repaired before going onto public roads, while the roads’ fesh fesh gave the impression that the wheel was not turning.

The FIA threw out the case after deducing Guayasamín had conflated the liaison for public roads: the stewards’ report explicitly stated, “Not all roads used for road sections are public roads” and that “if a road is not used for public traffic, it cannot be considered a public road within the meaning of FIA 2024 CCRSR Art. 27.1.9.”

Even with his protest going nowhere, Guayasamín was celebratory of his runner-up finish and being able to travel “across four continents to achieve this second place for Ecuador.” His co-driver Fernando Acosta also secured the navigators’ title after points leader Fausto Mota switched to Challenger to work with Rokas Baciuška for the race.

“The fight was incredibly tough,” Guayasamín stated. “Right up to the last kilometre, we were still in contention for the championship. The good news is we achieved something historic for Ecuador, which is second place in the World Championship. We are the runners-up, and I’m really happy because now we have a big celebration. My family is here tonight as well so I couldn’t ask for anything more.

“When the championship started in January, we didn’t have a budget prepared for the full season, but we made it happen step by step.”

Besides Guayasamín, Alexandre Pinto provided the biggest challenge to Seaidan throughout the rally despite not competing for points. Pinto, an FIA European Baja Cup regular who finished fifth in Challenger at the W2RC’s BP Ultimate Rally-Raid, was relatively new to desert rallies but looked right at home with three stage wins.

In finishing second to Seaidan, Pinto won the Road to Dakar to earn free registration for the 2025 Dakar Rally.

Ricardo Ramilo and Rebecca Busi were the only other drivers with a mathematical shot at the SSV title, albeit very slim chances as they respectively trailed Guayasamín by twenty and forty-one points. Ramilo retired after three stages whereas Busi finished fourth overall to pass him for third in the standings.

“We got the title and I couldn’t be more happy,” wrote Busi on her OnlyFans page. “We are the third best in the world.”

SSV overall results

Finish	Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Time	Margin
1	401	Yasir Seaidan	Michaël Metge	Race World Team	17:19:00	Leader
2	411	Alexandre Pinto*	Bernardo Oliveira	Old Friends Rally Team	17:29:38	+ 30:28
3	400	Sebastián Guayasamín	Fernando Acosta	BE Racing	17:44:38	+ 25:38
4	403	Rebecca Busi	Sergio Lafuente	OnlyFans Racing	18:26:28	+ 1:07:28
5	418	Paul Severn*	Max Delfino	Xtremeplus	18:51:35	+ 1:32:35
6	414	Fidel Castillo Ruiz*	Anuar Osman	BE Racing	18:59:13	+ 1:40:13
7	420	Alexander Toril*	Jean Brucy	Escudería JMP Racing	19:08:07	+ 1:49:07
8	438	Francisco Guedes*	Rui Pita	Santag Racing	20:18:28	+ 2:59:28
9	431	Grzegorz Brochocki*	Grzegorz Komar	Overlimit	20:48:39	+ 3:29:39
10	421	Andrea Schiumarini*	Nuncio Coffaro	TH-Trucks	20:49:32	+ 3:30:32
11	417	Juan Manuel Maña*	Giovanna Di Blasi	BE Racing	20:55:00	+ 3:36:00
12	432	Pablo Copetti*	Santiago Hansen	MMP Compétition	21:24:57	+ 4:05:57
13	436	Gauthier Honvault*	Maxime Braulle	Drag’on Rally Race Service	22:31:21	+ 5:12:21
14	405	Claude Fournier	Serge Gounon	MMP Compétition	23:09:15	+ 5:50:15
15	419	William Grarre*	Vincent Ferri	Team Horizon Off-Road	24:11:30	+ 6:52:30
16	435	Bertrand Honvault*	Kevin Bailly	Drag’on Rally Race Service	25:01:45	+ 7:42:45
17	437	Domingo Román*	Óscar Bravo	TH-Trucks	26:10:45	+ 8:51:45
18	433	Michaël Devos*	Xavier Hottelet	Ndoki Racing Team	27:23:11	+ 10:04:11
19	426	Aleksander Szustkowski*	Jaroslaw Kazberuk	Xtremeplus	28:02:31	+ 10:43:31
20	422	Adrien Choblet*	Laurent Magat	Team Casteu Trophy	39:07:45	+ 21:48:45
21	427	José Óscar Nogueira*	Arcelio Couto	Old Friends Rally Team	40:48:06	+ 23:29:06
22	434	José Ignacio Gayoso*	Santiago Ramiro	TH-Trucks	59:11:25	+ 41:52:25
DNF	402	Ricardo Ramilo	Sergi Brugué	Scuderia Ramilo	DNF	N/A
DNF	404	Enrico Gaspari	Ricardo Torlaschi	TH-Trucks	DNF	N/A
DNF	408	Hélder Rodrigues*	Gonçalo Reis	Old Friends Rally Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	412	Juan Miguel Fidel*	Javier Ventaja	Herrador Factory Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	423	Jérôme Daniel*	Nicolas Larroquet	Team Casteu Trophy	DNF	N/A
DNF	425	Carlos Vento*	Julian Villarrubia	Old Friends Rally Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	430	Jérémie Renou*	Antoine Sanchez	YDEO Competition	DNF	N/A

* – Not competing for World Rally-Raid Championship points

SSV stage winners

Stage	Driver	Time
Prologue	Alexandre Pinto*	18:47
Stage #1	Alexandre Pinto*	2:32:37
Stage #2	Yasir Seaidan	3:33:51
Stage #3	Alexandre Pinto*	4:03:01
Stage #4	Helder Rodrigues*	3:33:51
Stage #5	Fidel Castillo Ruiz*	2:55:10

W2RC SSV standings

For readability, competitors registered for the championship but did not earn points are excluded.

Drivers’ standings

Rank	Driver	Points	Margin
1	Yasir Seaidan	208	Leader
2	Sebastián Guayasamín	206	– 2
3	Rebecca Busi	155	– 53
4	Ricardo Ramilo	141	– 67
5	Claude Fournier	92	– 116
6	Enrico Gaspari	75	– 133
7	Sara Price	74	– 134
8	João Ferreira	73	– 135
9	Cristiano de Sousa Batista	52	– 156
10	Michele Cinotto	22	– 186
11	Eduard Pons	16	– 192
12	André Thewessen	13	– 195

Co-drivers’ standings

Rank	Co-Driver	Points	Margin
1	Fernando Acosta	206	Leader
2	Fausto Mota	172	– 34
3	Sergio Lafuente	155	– 51
4	Michaël Metge	117	– 89
5	Serge Gounon	92	– 114
6	Adrien Metge	91	– 115
7	Jeremy Gray	74	– 132
8	Filipe Palmeiro	73	– 133
9	Aku Facundo Jaton	31	– 175
10	Cesare Rickler	30	– 176
11	Maurizio Dominella	22	– 184
12	Marc Solà Terradellas	21	– 185
13	Jaume Betriu	16	– 190
14	Alberto Marcon	14	– 192
15	Dmytro Tsyro	13	– 193