Daniel Sanders has won the prologue of the 27th Rallye du Maroc. The KTM rider set off last of the 132 motorcycle riders as championship leader and, with 10 minutes and 58.4 seconds over the 16.7-kilometre special stage near Agadir, was the only one to stay under eleven minutes. His teammate Edgar Canet, who had led for a long time, finished second at 12 seconds, Ricky Brabec (Honda) third at 13 seconds and Luciano Benavides (KTM) fourth at 25 seconds.
For Sanders it is his 34th stage win in RallyGP. KTM remains unbeaten in the prologue in 2026, after earlier wins by Canet (Dakar), Sanders (Portugal) and Benavides (Argentina), ending three consecutive Honda wins in the Morocco prologue.
Today only the motorcycles and quads competed; the FIA crews were able to take part in an optional shakedown. Tomorrow the first stage from Agadir to Zagora (636 kilometres, of which 268 against the clock) begins for all participants. After scrutineering, 245 vehicles and 366 participants were cleared to start. Two Dutchmen lined up in the prologue: Lars van Berkel made his rally-raid debut with the 21st time in Rally2, Berend de Ruiter was 35th in that class.
The prologue ran largely over marked pistes, taped off and without direction arrows. The first 5 kilometres were rocky, after which main pistes and less visible tracks alternated, and the final two kilometres went downhill between the trees. That makes the result mainly relevant for tomorrow’s starting order and says little about the navigation in the days that follow.
Sanders beats Canet at the last moment
The prologue was run in reverse championship order: first the quads and Rally3, then Rally2 and finally RallyGP, with the championship leaders always last in their group. Bruno Crivilin set the benchmark time for a long while, Canet improved it by 20 seconds and stayed in the lead until the very last starter arrived. Brabec finished 0.8 seconds behind Canet. “The plan is to win,” Sanders had said beforehand, holding a three-point lead over Tosha Schareina and six over Benavides in the championship. Morocco is the only round he did not win last year: he was second there behind Schareina.
Schareina, last year’s winner, was sixth overall and fifth of the ten RallyGP riders, 32 seconds behind Sanders. He had said beforehand that he wanted both the victory and the championship. Brabec has finished third in Morocco four times (2017, 2018, 2022 and 2025) but has never won the rally. He did win the prologue last year and is now riding his final Morocco rally on a motorcycle: the American has announced that the 2027 Dakar will be his last motorcycle race.
The top five of the provisional result:
- Daniel Sanders (KTM) 10:58.4
- Edgar Canet (KTM) +12 s
- Ricky Brabec (Honda) +13 s
- Luciano Benavides (KTM) +25 s
- Bruno Crivilin (Honda, Rally2) +32 s
Honda placed six machines in the top ten, KTM three and Hero one. Further down in RallyGP: Bradley Cox (Sherco) was twelfth, Ignacio Cornejo (Hero) thirteenth, Skyler Howes sixteenth and Lorenzo Santolino (Sherco) twentieth. Cornejo is the only Hero rider in RallyGP, as Ross Branch is absent due to an injury sustained during training. Cox and Santolino compete outside the championship: of the ten RallyGP riders, eight count towards the world championship. Fourteen riders, the ten RallyGP riders and the four Rally2 riders from the top ten, choose their starting position for stage 1 this evening. As the fastest, Sanders has the last word.
Crivilin wins Rally2 by six tenths
In Rally2 Bruno Crivilin won ahead of Docherty, who signed with Hero in April and, with 37 Rally2 stage wins, is the record holder but is still waiting for his first win on an Indian brand. The gap was 0.6 seconds. Martim Ventura, the leader of the Rally2 World Cup, was third at 1.2 seconds and Preston Campbell fourth at 6.5 seconds. Brazilian Crivilin won stage 1 of the Desafío Ruta 40 earlier this year on his first W2RC appearance and had just returned from victory in the Rallye dos Sertões. Honda won all six special stages in Rally2 in Argentina and again starts in front in Morocco.
In the title fight Ventura leads by four points over Toni Mulec (BAS World KTM), Campbell is 17 points back and still has a mathematical chance. Mulec lost 44 seconds to Ventura in the prologue and was ninth in the class (18th overall). Konrad Dabrowski (Duust) was fifth in the class, 30 seconds behind Crivilin.
Jean-Loup Lepan (Duust) returned to the world championship. The Frenchman was seriously injured in Morocco in 2024, including a haemopneumothorax and multiple fractures, and was 27th now. Noa Sainct, son of Dakar winner Richard Sainct, moved up from Rally3, where he won his class last year, to Rally2 and was 33rd. He won the Baja Morocco (17 to 21 September), an informal test for many teams, and came straight from there. “This is a bit like my first test against the big boys,” he said.
Dutch riders: Van Berkel makes his debut, De Ruiter 35th in Rally2
Lars van Berkel (32) is the best Dutchman of the day with the 21st time in Rally2. He was 31st overall, 2 minutes and 15 seconds behind Sanders and fifth of the ten BAS World riders. The motocross and beach racer from Veghel made his rally-raid debut and briefly led Rally2 during the prologue. Morocco is a stepping stone for him towards the Dakar of January 2027. He chose start number 107 himself and therefore set off among slower riders.
Berend de Ruiter (HT Rally Raid, Honda) was 45th overall and 35th in Rally2, 3 minutes and 15 seconds behind Sanders. That makes him the third of HT Rally Raid’s six riders, behind Ruy Barbosa (29th) and Scott Heygate (30th). The motocross rider from Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel won the Enduro class of the Rallye Breslau in July and is aiming for the 2028 Dakar.
The Dutch cars and trucks do not start until tomorrow. Puck Klaassen (KTM X-Bow Lab Team) leads the Challenger championship by nine points over Alexandre Pinto, making her the first woman to lead a W2RC class. Kees Koolen (RD Limited, Ultimate) took part in the Baja Morocco, an informal test, for a few days ahead of the rally.
Team de Rooy has two Iveco Powerstars on the start line. Mitchel van den Brink returns to the team after a spell at MM Technology, with the Rallye du Maroc as a build-up to the 2027 Dakar. The stewards imposed a 500-euro fine on his truck (#603) on Monday morning: when the entry list was published on 17 September, the documents for the FIA technical passport had not yet been received, an obligation for vehicles taking part in an FIA event for the first time. The second truck (#602) belongs to Kay Huzink, whose team has worked with Team de Rooy as Huzink Rally Sport since 18 September rather than as the Kuipers-Jongbloed Hybrid Dakar Team. Huzink was seventh in the truck class of the Dakar in January and won the Morocco Desert Challenge in 2025 and 2026.
ZXMoto debuts with Howes and Ebster
The ZXMoto Joyride Factory Rally Team made its world championship debut. Howes was sixteenth overall, ninth of the ten RallyGP riders, 1 minute and 14 seconds off Sanders. Tobias Ebster was 21st, eleventh in Rally2 and 58 seconds behind Crivilin. Ebster has won Rally2 stages on GasGas, KTM and Hero and, with a win on the ZXMoto, could have become the first Rally2 rider to win on four different brands, but that did not happen. In the interim two Chinese motorcycles topped the standings: Ebster’s ZXMoto and Javi Vega’s Kove.
Howes described Morocco beforehand mainly as “a test”: the motorcycle is new, he only signed a few weeks ago and the team needs race data as a basis for the 2027 Dakar. The result fits a debut with a young motorcycle, though it puts the brand well over a minute off the top. Because the prologue was short and involved little navigation, it does not yet say much about the days to come.
Triumph wins Rally3, Kanopkinas the quads
In Rally3 Albert Martín won on the Triumph TF 450-X, the first Triumph ever in a round of the world championship. He finished in 14 minutes and 15 seconds, a minute ahead of Toni Vingut (Visit Sant Antoni-Ibiza) and 1 minute and 29 seconds ahead of Richard Hodola (Pedregà). Martín, third in the Original by Motul class (without assistance) of the Dakar in 2024, is the first Spanish winner in Rally3, the nineteenth winner in that class and the 136th rider with a W2RC win. For Rally3, Morocco is the final round of the season. Murun Purevdorj leads by one point over Eduardo Alan, both of Xraids Experience. In the prologue Purevdorj was fourth in the class and 59 seconds faster than Alan, who was seventh. Rally3 has eight starters, as the Finnish Arctic Foxes riders Atte Kukkonen and Jake Vainio now appear on the start list as Rally2 riders.
Among the quads Antanas Kanopkinas (CFMoto) won in 15 minutes and 19 seconds. It was his fifth consecutive special stage after the last four of the Desafío Ruta 40 and his twentieth W2RC stage win. Leonardo Martínez (Can-Am) was second at 1 minute and 11 seconds. His daughter Suany, who opened the rally as the first of all participants, was third with a two-minute time penalty at 9 minutes and 14 seconds. “I can no longer fight for the title, but I ride for my father,” she said at the administrative check. Kanopkinas won the last quad race in Morocco in 2024.
First Malle Moto classification
For the first time in the history of the rally there is a classification for Malle Moto, riders without assistance. On the day itself the organisation spoke of seven participants. The provisional result lists more riders with the MM designation, which according to the organisation is still being updated. The favourite is Javi Vega (Kove), who has ridden the Dakar eight times under the same conditions, was fifth in January and second in 2023. He was 26th overall, making him the best MM rider, 1 minute and 41 seconds off Sanders.
The provisional result records time penalties for ten riders, mostly of two minutes (Antonio Ubis received four). No reason is given in the result.
Botswana becomes ninth world championship country
On the eve of the rally, the world championship announced that the second edition of the South African Safari Rally (14 to 19 June 2027) will divert into Botswana for two days, during stages 2 and 3. Botswana thereby becomes the ninth country the World Rally-Raid Championship visits. Never before has an event of this scale run through the country. The rally is the third round of the 2027 calendar. Director Archie Rutherford speaks of “a true African adventure.” Ross Branch, RallyGP world champion in 2024 and the best motorcycle rider in Botswana’s history, calls it “a lifelong dream.” Branch is absent in Morocco this week due to injury.
Tomorrow: Agadir to Zagora
Tonight at 18:30 the ceremony for the starting order of stage 1 follows at the Sofitel Agadir Royal Bay Resort. The first stage is 636 kilometres long, of which 268 kilometres is special stage, and runs in a single day from the coast to Zagora, where the rally is based for the rest of the week.
