Daniel Sanders has won stage 2 of the Rallye du Maroc in the bike category and reclaimed the overall lead from Ricky Brabec. In the cars, the stage win went to Henk Lategan (Toyota), while Lucas Moraes (Dacia) took over the overall lead after teammate Nasser Al Attiyah dropped out just before the finish. Among the Dutch competitors, Paul Spierings was the standout: together with Kala Senders he won the stage in the Challenger class.
Sanders caught Brabec, who had started the day in the lead, early in the special, after which the two ran together for a long stretch. He eventually crossed the finish 3 minutes and 4 seconds ahead of the American and 3 minutes and 34 seconds ahead of teammate Edgar Canet, who was later given a one-minute time penalty for speeding. Sanders now leads the overall standings by 2 minutes and 54 seconds over Brabec and 4 minutes and 7 seconds over Canet.
In the cars, Lategan recorded his third consecutive Hilux victory in the world championship, ahead of the Ford Raptors of Eryk Goczał and Carlos Sainz. Nasser Al Attiyah looked set for the stage win and the overall lead, but came to a halt nine kilometres before the finish with a mechanical problem and was towed to the finish by teammate Sébastien Loeb. As a result, Moraes took over the overall lead, 28 seconds ahead of Lategan.
Alongside Spierings’ win there was also Dutch misfortune: Lex Peters suffered a heavy crash and had to abandon the special, though he will be back at the start tomorrow. Meanwhile, Mitchel van den Brink stayed comfortably in the lead in the truck class.
One of the toughest stages ever
Rally director Marc Coma had described stage 2 beforehand as “one of the toughest in the history of the Rallye du Maroc”. At roughly 300 kilometres of special stage, the distance itself is not exceptional, but the route combined technical, trial-like sections, loose rocks, a substantial dune stretch and off-road sections, and ended once again with rocks and trial terrain. According to Coma, debutants had to come through the first stage unscathed to be prepared for this. For the cars, a “remote service” applied for the first time: a mandatory stop at M’hamid where teams were allowed two minutes to carry out tyre changes or repairs, with any longer stop costing extra time on the special. This form of service was used for the first time this year at the Dakar and serves in Morocco as practice for the 2027 edition.
That the stage was tough was also clear from the number of retirements: of the 132 bikes that started the prologue, 119 were still at the start of stage 2, and of the 110 cars that completed stage 1, 101 remained.
Sanders wins duel with Brabec, Ventura again the best in Rally2
In RallyGP, Sanders posted his 35th stage win and with it immediately took back the lead: he now stands 2 minutes and 54 seconds ahead of Brabec and 4 minutes and 7 seconds ahead of Canet, with the rest of the field far behind. Bradley Cox (Sherco) was forced to withdraw from the rally: the South African broke a metacarpal in his thumb in his fall during stage 1 and needs surgery on it.
Top five overall standings in the bike category after stage 2:
- Daniel Sanders (KTM) 06:26:32
- Ricky Brabec (Honda) +02:54
- Edgar Canet (KTM) +04:07
- Martim Ventura (Honda, Rally2) +06:10
- Luciano Benavides (KTM) +08:19
Martim Ventura won in Rally2 for the second day running, this time by 2 minutes and 38 seconds over Michael Docherty (Hero), who is still waiting for his first win with the Indian brand. It was Ventura’s tenth W2RC win and he extended his class lead to 3 minutes and 36 seconds over Docherty and 22 minutes and 18 seconds over Preston Campbell. Albert Martín (Triumph) and Antanas Kanopkinas (CFMoto) both won for the third day running, in Rally3 and the quads respectively. Two riders returned early to the bivouac: Noa Sainct with pain following his fall the previous day and Philip Howard with a broken water tank. Shlok Ghorpade, one of Hero’s “India’s Next Dakar Hero” candidates, had to retire with a mechanical problem.
Skyler Howes (ZXMoto) recovered well from his fuel problem of yesterday: he finished seventh on the stage, well over 10 minutes behind Sanders. No Chinese brand has ever led the overall standings in the bike category or won a RallyGP stage, and ZXMoto wants to break that record in time, though Howes stresses that the bike is still in development.
Lategan wins, Al Attiyah loses win and lead nine kilometres before the finish
In the cars, Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC) won ahead of the Ford Raptors of Eryk Goczał (41 seconds) and Carlos Sainz (1 minute and 12 seconds), who have yet to win this week. It was Toyota’s third consecutive Hilux victory in the world championship, after Lategan himself in the final stage of the Desafío Ruta 40 and João Ferreira a day earlier in Morocco.
The day was overshadowed, however, by the drama of Nasser Al Attiyah (Dacia). The Qatari took the lead at kilometre 221 and extended it to 1 minute and 32 seconds at the final time control point at kilometre 276, good for the virtual lead in the overall standings. Nine kilometres before the finish, however, he came to a halt with a mechanical problem; teammate Sébastien Loeb towed him to the finish. Al Attiyah dropped to twentieth place, almost 45 minutes behind the new leader, his own teammate Lucas Moraes, who had opened the special almost from start to finish and still held up admirably. For Al Attiyah, who went into the rally as number two in the championship three points behind Loeb, it now becomes a hellish task to still pick up world championship points: these are awarded to the first fifteen in the overall standings, with extra stage points for the first five.
João Ferreira, winner of stage 1, also had an off day: he opened the special and as a result lost 11 minutes and the overall lead. Guy Botterill (Toyota) had a rolling crash after a spell in the lead, and Yazeed Al Rajhi (Toyota) dropped out with a mechanical problem in the dune section. Sébastien Loeb, who had his own drama in stage 1 (a mechanical failure in the Chegaga dunes, followed by a tow and a 15-hour time penalty), is now focusing fully on the world championship, in which he still leads by three points over Al Attiyah.
Top five overall standings in the cars after stage 2:
- Lucas Moraes (Dacia) 06:11:41
- Henk Lategan (Toyota) +00:28
- Carlos Sainz (Ford) +02:43
- Mattias Ekström (Ford) +03:02
- Mathieu Serradori (Century) +03:05
Spierings wins in Challenger, Peterhansel and González Ferioli win Stock and SSV
In the Challenger class, Paul Spierings (Rebellion-Spierings) won the stage ahead of Alexandre Pinto (Old Friends Rally), after a duel that stayed evenly balanced until kilometre 243. Pinto nonetheless retained a 15-minute advantage over the Dutchman in the rally’s overall standings. In Stock, Stéphane Peterhansel (Defender) took the day’s win, but Sara Price stayed well ahead with a margin of almost 14 minutes. In the SSV class, the day’s most exciting battle was between Jeremías González Ferioli (Can-Am) and Matthias Walkner (Can-Am): the Argentine won by 40 seconds and cut his deficit in the standings to 6 minutes and 33 seconds, though Walkner remained in the lead.
Van den Brink stays comfortably ahead in the trucks
Mitchel van den Brink (Team de Rooy) again set the fastest time in the trucks today and extended his lead over Martin Macík (MM Technology), who had already been given a 10-minute time penalty yesterday, to almost an hour. The 24-year-old Van den Brink first took part in the Dakar as a navigator at the age of sixteen, at the time the youngest entrant ever, and at eighteen became the youngest truck driver in the rally. He plans to drive his final Dakar in a truck next year before moving up to the Ultimate class, in which he has already competed in a few races outside the world championship.
Dutch competitors: Spierings the standout, Peters crashes but starts again tomorrow
Paul Spierings put himself at the top of the day’s Dutch results with his stage win. Lex Peters went into a roll after a ‘kicker’ and could not finish the special, but will simply be back at the start tomorrow. Berend de Ruiter drove a consistent stage: “A very steady run today. I took my time and the pace was pleasant and consistent. Just a small navigation error at the end, which cost me a bit of time,” he reported. By his own account he stands 42nd in the overall standings and 32nd in Rally2.
Dutch results in the bike category after stage 2:
- Lars van Berkel (BAS World KTM Team) – stage 29th (+41:33), overall 28th (+1:15:14)
- Berend de Ruiter (HT Rally Raid) – own account: 42nd overall, 32nd in Rally2
Dutch results in the cars and trucks after stage 2:
Ultimate
- Kees Koolen/Wouter Rosegaar (RD Limited) – overall 28th, +53:55
- Mike van Eikeren/Jasper Riezebos (MP Rallysport) – overall 40th, +1:20:34
- Rik van den Brink/Gydo Heimans (SRT) – did not reach the finish of stage 2, overall 67th at +5:53:56
- Rients Hofstra/Wouter de Graaff (Red-Lined Europe) – no stage 2 data available
- Gert-Jan van der Valk/Branco de Lange (MP Rallysport) – did not return to the results after the DNF in stage 1
Challenger
- Paul Spierings/Kala Senders (Rebellion-Spierings) – stage winner, 2nd in class, 15 minutes behind Pinto
- Lex Peters/Arjan van Tiel (G Rally Team) – crash, did not finish, back at the start tomorrow
- Roger Grouwels/Rudolf Meijer (QFF Racing) – no stage 2 data available
- Puck Klaassen/Augusto Sanz (KTM X-Bow Lab Team) – did not return to the results after the crash in stage 1
Trucks
- Mitchel van den Brink/Bart van Heun/Jarno van de Pol (Team de Rooy) – stays comfortably in the class lead, overall 32nd, +58:35
- Kay Huzink/Mark Salomons/Corne Blok (Team de Rooy) – overall 57th, +2:11:00
Tomorrow brings stage 3, once again with start and finish in Zagora.
