Stage four of the 2025 MB Rally Trophy brought together everything that makes this rally a unique adventure. Three completely different specials, ranging from sharp rocky trails to deep sand bowls and a night finale in total darkness, pushed both man and machine to the limit. Anyone who made it through this day intact is now eyeing the finish with confidence.
Erik van Loon and Wouter Rosegaar are driving the rally as if they designed it themselves: tactical, controlled, and efficient. Their lead remains solid. Behind them, however, a fierce battle for the podium is unfolding, with Martijn van den Broek as one of the standout performers of the day.
Van Loon chooses brains over speed
For the fourth day in a row, Van Loon and Rosegaar were the first to take to the course. Their decision to avoid unnecessary risks once again paid off. “It actually went quite well,” Van Loon explained. “We made a small mistake in the morning, which cost us about three minutes. After that, we got stuck behind another buggy. In the afternoon, the pace picked up a bit, but everything stayed under control. And in the night stage, not exactly my favorite, we drove well. The main goal today was to defend our lead, and we succeeded.”
With a time of 2:56:18 and no penalty minutes, the Can-Am duo remains firmly in control of the overall standings. Their lead over Versteijnen is now 1 hour and 28 minutes.
Versteijnen applies pressure, Box and Van den Broek fight for podium
Jasper Versteijnen and Jelle van Limpt had another strong showing and managed to finish the day slightly faster than Van Loon, but not enough to shake up the standings. Behind them, a thrilling duel is emerging between fellow villagers Kees Box and Martijn van den Broek for third place.
Box had a difficult day, clocking in at 3:47:59, but just managed to hold on to his third position overall. Van den Broek and navigator Jan-Paul van der Poel finished fifth on the day and are now just 15 minutes behind Box in the general standings.
Van den Broek: “A day to remember”
Martijn van den Broek struggled to put the day into words afterward. “Too much happened to really describe it all.” But his short recap says it all. He and his co-driver finished fifth in SS4A and even third in SS4B. But the real highlight was night stage SS4C.
“It was insane to go full throttle in the dark,” he said. After just 10 kilometers, they caught up with Maurik van den Heuvel, who had started two minutes earlier. “Catching up is one thing, passing in the dark is another. Around kilometer 25, we both lost the track. After six or seven minutes of searching, we found it again, but by then the cars behind us had caught up and started following us.”
The final stretch of the night stage was almost surreal. “We launched over a dune and landed straight into a walled orchard. Full of palm trees, and no exit in sight. We drove along the inner wall, but found no gate. Eventually, we spotted a crumbled section in the wall, floored it over the top, landed with a bang on the other side, and continued through the last dunes in the dark towards the finish. Definitely a stage I’ll never forget.”
Uncertain final day ahead
With only one stage left, a 160-kilometer loop around Merzouga, the podium is far from decided. Van den Broek trails Box by just 15 minutes and has announced he will “go all in one last time.” But bad weather looms. “We just heard it’s still unclear if the final stage will go ahead,” said Van den Broek. “Heavy rain is expected and much of the route runs through riverbeds. We’ll find out more at 8:00 AM tomorrow.”
Standings after four days
The top five in the general classification hold few surprises. Van Loon leads comfortably, followed by Versteijnen. Box and Van den Broek are close together in third and fourth, with only a small gap between them. Maurik van den Heuvel rounds out the top five at a considerable distance.
The 2025 MB Rally Trophy is nearing its end. Whether the final stage will deliver more drama depends on the weather. But one thing is clear: stage four was one for the history books.
