The fourth stage of the Baja Morocco ran on Sunday over 300 kilometres through the region north of Merzouga, starting at the bivouac and finishing ten kilometres away. Race control had split the day in advance: according to Saturday evening’s bulletin, the first bike would restart at 13.00 at kilometre 120.25, with the first car thirty minutes after the last bike.
In sporting terms the day produced two Dutch highlights. Puck Klaassen came within nineteen seconds of the stage win in the SSVs, and Kees Koolen, with Wouter Rosegaar, set his first time of this rally, immediately good enough for fourth place among the cars. Rik van den Brink drove the fifth-fastest time despite a technical problem and remains fourth in the overall standings.
Sainct wins everything
Among the bikes, Noa Sainct remains untouchable. The Frenchman from Nomade Racing also won the fourth stage, in 4.24.53, and has now put all four stages to his name. Franck Verhoestraete was again second, at 12.01, with Louis Trelluyer 54 seconds behind him in third. Boris Bretez followed at 13.26, Thomas Kongshoj at 18.38.
In the overall standings, Sainct’s lead has now grown to 1.14.34 over Verhoestraete, who sits firmly in second on 20.54.20. Trelluyer is third at 2.14.23, ahead of Bretez and Kongshoj. Christopher Jautard and Richard Hodola swapped places: Hodola drove the sixth-fastest time of the day but stands seventh in the interim standings, behind Jautard. All seventeen bike riders are still classified.
Pinto and Oliveira the fastest again, Klaassen close behind
In the SSVs, Alexandre Pinto and Bernardo Oliveira took their third stage win in a row in BBR’s Odysée CR-X, but it did not come easily. Klaassen and her Argentine navigator Augusto Sanz came within nineteen seconds, after a stage of just over 3.46 hours. Standings leader Adrien Choblet and Paul Durame followed in third at 6.47.
Brian Baragwanath and Jayden Els initially drove the third-fastest time, but a fifteen-minute penalty pushed them back to fourth in their class, at 19.46. Du Xuanyi and Tian Yu, Harite Gabari and Vincent Ferri, and George Hales and Max Delfino followed behind them. Manuel Andújar and Cesar Andres Frini also picked up a fifteen-minute penalty.
In the overall standings, Pinto and Oliveira stay in the lead on 17.27.10. In the combined car and SSV classification that the organisation publishes, they even top the entire field, eight minutes ahead of the fastest car. Choblet and Durame follow at 22.38, while Hales and Delfino stand third in the SSVs at 1.45.16, ahead of Du Xuanyi and Tian Yu.
Vitse fastest of the day, Serradori unthreatened
Among the cars, Simon Vitse and Delphine Delfino, in 3.39.12, set not only the fastest car time but also the best time of the day across all categories. Mathieu Serradori and Loïc Minaudier stayed just behind on 2.23. Jérôme Cambier and Antoine Lecourbe were third at 14.41, with Koolen and Rosegaar four seconds off that in fourth.
Van den Brink and Gydo Heimans followed in fifth at 28.23, ahead of David Gerard and Pascal Delacour. Dave Beecroft and Fraser Parish were seventh, ahead of the Toyota Land Cruiser of Yasir Seaidan and Jean Michel Polato. Daniel Beecroft and Phillip Gillespie closed out the nine classified cars: on top of the penalty that nearly the whole field received, they had an extra hour added to their time for four missed waypoints.
Serradori leads the cars unthreatened on 17.35.14. Daniel Beecroft and Gillespie stand second despite their penalty, on 4.00.20, with Dave Beecroft and Parish third on 7.02.43. Van den Brink and Heimans remain fourth on 7.08.27, ahead of Cambier, Vitse, Gerard, Seaidan and Koolen.
Three Dutchies in the results
Puck Klaassen posted her best result so far in her second stage of this Baja. Nineteen seconds, after more than three and a half hours of racing, separated her and Sanz from the stage win, and they thereby also finished ahead of standings leader Choblet and the pairing of Baragwanath and Els. Having driven the third-fastest time a day earlier, the Dutchwoman confirms that she belongs among the fastest of the SSV field. In the combined car and SSV classification she stands 36th, with the forfeit times she received for the first two stages.
Rik van den Brink and Gydo Heimans faced technical trouble again on day four for the first time since the opening stage. According to Heimans the day started well with twenty kilometres of dunes, where the high dunes near Merzouga were cleared without problems, but in the final fifty kilometres of the first section the throttle valve failed. “The car actually wanted to drive off on its own, so it was pretty hard to keep it under control,” said Heimans. At the service point during the neutralisation the throttle valve was replaced, after which the pair, by their own account, had a fine run to the finish, over broken dunes and sections off the piste. The fifth-fastest time of the day keeps them fourth in the overall standings.
Kees Koolen and Wouter Rosegaar appear in the results for the first time in this rally. In RD Limited’s Ford Raptor they drove the fourth-fastest car time in the fourth stage, at 14.45 from Vitse and four seconds from Cambier. That also brings them into the overall standings, as the ninth and last classified car, with the forfeit times for the first three days worked into their total.
Monday: 130 kilometres, of which 33 through the dunes
The rally closes on Monday with a short 130-kilometre stage around Merzouga, with just one kilometre of liaison. In the briefing the organisation warns emphatically that the final day is no formality. According to race control there are plenty of pitfalls on the route, and both navigation and driving demand full concentration right up to the line. As the finale, 33 kilometres of dunes are on the programme, with the finish in the middle of the sand.
The route crosses the tracks of the first and fourth stages in several places, which can make navigation extra tricky. In addition, four neutralisation zones have been built in to pass safely alongside tourist areas and across roads.
Penalties across almost the whole field
Striking in the fourth stage is that nearly every competitor, from bike rider to car and SSV, was charged with the same offence: a note at waypoint 73, good for five to fifteen minutes of penalty. In addition, race control handed out separate penalties for missed waypoints, including an hour for Daniel Beecroft and 45 minutes for Jédidia Favre.
(The results and interim standings mentioned are the provisional classifications published by the organisation after four stages and may still change.)
