Marrakesh Set To Celebrate Silver Jubilee
Key points:
Just 30 days to go until the fifth and final round of the championship, the Rallye du Maroc, scheduled for 5 to 11 October. Only the quad title has already been decided.
The Moroccan race, the traditional denouement of the season, will celebrate its silver jubilee and set the scene for the 100th timed challenge in the history of the W2RC.
The imperial city of Marrakesh was the natural choice to host the celebrations. The prologue will be held just outside its ramparts, while the five stages will take place further afield, orbiting around two bivouacs.
The caravan will spend two nights in Zagora and three in Mengoub-Bouârfa, in the Oriental region, in the north-eastern corner of Morocco.
2,468 kilometres, including 1,512 kilometres of specials, await the competitors.
David Castera, who has served as the race director since 2018, continues to push into uncharted territory in the Sharifian Kingdom.
This is a deliberate choice to guarantee a white-knuckle finish to the 2024 season, but it also serves up a preview of the 2025 championship, which will get under way in the Dakar on terrain similar to what the field will face in the last two stages.
The architect of the Rallye du Maroc, David Castera, does not shy away from comparisons with the Dakar. And why would he, especially this year, when the similarities between the rounds that bookend the W2RC season are more striking than ever? Featuring an XXL transfer on day one, five stages centred around bivouacs, a series of treks through the most expansive deserts in the country, separate courses for the cars and motorbikes in the dunes, and Saudi-style tracks at the end of the event, the Rallye du Maroc is a miniature version of the Dakar!
FOLLOWING THE TRACES OF THE CARAVANS
The international and happy-go-lucky city of Marrakesh is set to host the administrative and technical scrutineering on 4 and 5 October. The prologue, which will be held just outside its walls in the morning of 6 October, will stand out on more than one count.
On one hand, the roars of the FIM engines will fill the air before the muezzins sound the first of the five daily calls to prayer. Such an early start is required because the field will spend the afternoon travelling to Zagora. The 372 km journey will take them through the High Atlas over the famous Tizi n'Tichka (2,260 m) before plunging down to the palm groves of the Drâa Valley, as merchant caravans used to do in centuries past.
On the other hand, the FIA classes will be tackling their 100th W2RC timed challenge (adding up prologues and stages) since the inception of the championship in 2022. Victory here is going to have a special flavour. The FIM riders will be marking the same occasion on the next day.
Next on the menu will be two loop stages around Zagora. The Erg Chegaga dunes will obviously be on the programme, with separate courses to keep amateur riders safe from overtaking cars and, at the same time, spice up the challenge for the car drivers, who will have to do without the traces of the motorbikes, on which they so often rely.
It will also be a dress rehearsal for the pro riders, who will be racing with electronic roadbooks for the first time in history. The "tablet" will be mandatory for everyone, including Rally GP riders. This rule change could act as a catalyst for the emergence of the global hierarchy, with Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) determined to keep Ricky Brabec and Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy Honda) at bay in the fight for the title.
HERE BE DRAGONS
Stage 3 will be a point-to-point special through the dunes of Merzouga. Once again, the FIM and FIA classes will race on separate courses. The area around Mengoub and Bouârfa, about 200 km north-east of Erfoud, on the edge of the Rekkam Plateau, will host the second bivouac in the great outdoors. "Building this part of the race around bivouacs solves the accommodation problem and allows us to focus on the sporting side", as David Castera put it when he unveiled the route. The race will venture into the most sparsely populated areas of Oriental, the region that will set the scene for stages 4 and 5, whose geography is perfect for navigational challenges. The mastermind behind the route promises two "Dakar-style" stages to wrap up the rally. Very much like in Saudi Arabia, traces on this terrain are few and far between.
The 2024 roadbook, crafted by the Argentinian Pablo Eli, is faithful to the philosophy of the previous edition, rewarding entrants who can analyse the landscape and anticipate notes. In other words, flair will count for more than raw skill. There will be no psychological respite until the finish. Even the last special of the championship will be no walk in the park. At about 270 km, it will be roughly as long as stage 1 (versus an average of 320 km for the other three stages). Expect the unexpected all the way to the finish line, which will be set up in the heart of the bivouac so that the entire caravan can live this action-packed moment together.
The six-time Rallye du Maroc champion and record holder for most victories, Nasser Al Attiyah, will try and sew up the car title on his first outing in his new Dacia Sandrider. However, the reigning champion in Morocco, Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing), and the rising star Lucas Moraes (Toyota Gazoo Racing), who will be making his debut in this race, are determined to defy the odds.
The definitive start list, which will be unveiled on 26 September, will provide a sneak peek of the soon-to-be revealed W2RC season 4… The next few weeks will be packed with surprises!
Schedule
• 20 September: closing date for entries• 26 September: publication of the entry list• 2 October at 2 pm: opening of the service park (Marrakesh Stadium)• 3 October from 4 to 8 pm: opening of the press room and accreditation• 4 October9 am to 8 pm: opening of the press room and accreditation
12 to 7 pm: administrative scrutineering
1 to 8 pm: technical scrutineering
8 pm: general briefing5 October:8 am to 3:30 pm: FIA administrative scrutineering
8 am to 6 pm: FIM administrative scrutineering
9 am to 8 pm: opening of the press room
6:20 pm: press conference6 October: prologue:TBA: prologue in Marrakesh (road section: 49 km / special: 25 km / total: 74 km)
12 to 9 pm: opening of the press room (Zagora bivouac)7 October: stage 1 Zagora–Zagora (road section: 228 km / special: 268 km / total: 496 km)8 October: stage 2 Zagora–Zagora (road section: 158 km / special: 317 km / total: 475 km)9 October: stage 3 Zagora–Mengoub-Bouârfa (road section: 358 km / special: 318 km / total: 676 km)10 October: stage 4 Mengoub-Bouârfa–Mengoub-Bouârfa (road section: 61 km / special: 312 km / total: 373 km)11 October: stage 5 Mengoub-Bouârfa–Mengoub-Bouârfa (road section: 102 km / special: 272 km / total: 374 km)
