After Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah incurs late time penalty in Morocco
Dacia’s Sebastien Loeb and Edouard Boulanger earn outright victory in Morocco
Frenchman Boulanger confirmed as 2025 W2RC champion navigator
Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Lucas Moraes earned the W2RC Drivers’ Championship title for the first time after finishing second overall at the six-day Rally of Morocco, the final round of the 2025 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship.
Moraes looked to have narrowly missed out on the title to Dacia’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah until the Qatari was handed a one-hour time penalty for failing to stop at the stop sign of the final Power Selective Section. That pushed the former champion down to 15th in the overall standings after an additional 10 minutes were added to his time before the final results for another penalty. Al-Attiyah did protest the one-hour penalty late on Friday evening but it was rejected by event officials.
Outright victory went to Al-Attiyah’s team-mate Sébastien Loeb. The Frenchman’s success marked his second W2RC win to follow success at the 2022 Andalucia Rally. It was also the second of the year for Dacia with Toyota taking three W2RC wins. Loeb’s winning margin over Moraes was 5min 43sec and it also enabled him to finish fourth in the Drivers’ Championship.
Al-Attiyah’s former navigator Edouard Boulanger partnered Loeb to victory and also confirmed the Navigators’ Championship with Moraes’s partner Armand Monleón finishing second.
Moraes said: “I am so happy to be able to finish this rally after fighting with my two idols, Nasser and Seb. I have been watching them on television for a long time and also on the Dakar in South America. It’s really tricky when it comes down to penalties and to regulations, but it is what it is on the road, on the politics of the championship. We fought until the end and won the World Championship and I’m really happy to deliver this to Brazil as well. It’s an honour for me to represent my country.”
A differential failure and resultant time delays proved costly to Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings who had been in the hunt for both titles at the start of the week. The Toyota Gazoo Racing duo won one stage but finished the event in 13th overall and third in the Drivers’ and Navigators’ Championships.
Ford M-Sport enjoyed a successful Moroccan adventure and confirmed third in the W2RC Manufacturers’ Championship. Joan Roma and Alex Haro won a stage and led outright after stage two. They were passed on the final special by Al-Attiyah and his navigator Fabian Lurquin but moved back to third place after the Qatari’s time penalty. Team-mates Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist were fifth in the second of the four Ford Raptors.
Roma said: “A good week and good to be here racing. Day three was tough and I am happy to be here and getting ready for Dakar.”
The Portuguese pairing of João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro guided their Toyota Hilux run by SVR Racing to fourth just four seconds behind Roma’s Ford, with Mathieu Serradori and Loic Minaudier losing out on sixth after hitting trouble in their Century CR7 on the final stage. Their demise lifted Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Saood Variawa and François Cazalet into sixth.
Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch steered the third of the Fords to seventh ahead of the Energylandia Rally Team Toyota duo of Eryk Goczal and Szymon Gospodarczyk. Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno crewed the third Dacia Sandrider to ninth and Marek Goczal and Maciej Marton rounded off the top 10 in the second of the Energylandia cars.
Technical issues and a resultant engine block change earned Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz massive time penalties and they retired their Ford. Overdrive Racing’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi was also sidelined but Martin Prokop (Ford) and Juan Cruz Yacopini (Toyota) were just outside the top 10 in 11th and 12th.
One-hundred and six of the original 107 entrants took the start with 44 registered in the Ultimate category, 25 in Challenger, 30 in SSV and seven in the Open (Stock and Truck) sections.
Al-Attiyah got the better of his rivals on the 18.82km Prologue, near Fez, the Qatari beating Ferreira by 11 seconds with Loeb, Serradori and Ekström rounding off the top five.
The opening stage ran for 298.51km on the run south from Fez to the overnight halt and main bivouac location in Erfoud. Al-Attiyah stopped for over five minutes with a damaged steering arm after 210km but Loeb grabbed the stage win and a lead over Ekström of just 27 seconds. Moraes was third ahead of Roma, Lategan, Ferreira and Sainz. Al-Attiyah’s eventual time loss was 12min 40sec to the stage winner. Daniel Schröder failed to finish the special in his Volkswagen and retired.
Stage two looped through the deserts around Erfoud for 305.68km and featured the first dune crossings in the Erg Chebbi. Al-Rajhi was forced to stop with a front suspension issue shortly after the start and then Quintero requested permission off rally officials to contact his service crew in a bid to fix a problem he suffered after 200km. He then returned to the bivouac. Differential issued proved expensive for Lategan with the loss of over 48 minutes in the dunes.
Lategan said: “Everything was going well at the start, then our rear differential started playing up before giving up completely before one of the big dune sections. We deflated the tyres to find a way through the biggest ones. It was a nightmare and we lost a lot of time.”
Al-Attiyah claimed the stage win from Roma but the Spaniard took a 47-second lead over Moraes back to the bivouac in Erfoud. Ferreira, Ekström and Loeb rounded off the overall top five with Al-Attiyah climbing to eighth.
Stage three was the second of the loop stages around Erfoud that crossed the Merzouga dunes and ran for 322.96km. Lategan set the quickest time from Quintero and Loeb with Al-Attiyah coming home in fourth ahead of Ekström. Sainz stopped with engine issues after just 58km and retired from the stage.
Loeb’s pace gave him a 3min 25sec advantage over Moraes to take into the penultimate section and the third of the loops around Erfoud. Ekström moved up to third ahead of Ferreira, Al-Attiyah and Roma.
Roma edged Loeb to win the penultimate stage of 282.98km but Moraes pipped Al-Attiyah to third and the extra stage point enabled the Brazilian to close the gap to two points in the battle for the Drivers’ Championship. Sainz incurred even more penalties for missing the stage while the engine block was changed on his Ford Raptor.
The title was decided on the final 215.92km stage and the Power Selective finale of 30.94km. Quintero topped the times on the opening section from Lategan and Ekström with Moraes and Al-Attiyah coming home in sixth and seventh.
Three additional points were awarded to the winner of the Power Stage with two going to second and one for third. Seth Quintero claimed the stage win from Ekström and Ferreira, Roma won the Power Stage and a time penalty for Al-Attiyah handed the title to Moraes.
Cavigliasso confirms W2RC Challenger title; Morocco victory for Navarro
Argentina’s Nicolas Cavigliasso played the tactical game to perfection to finish second to rival Pau Navarro and his navigator Jan Rosa in the Challenger category and that was enough to seal the title.
The Taurus T3 Max driver’s navigator Valentina Pertegarini had already secured the Navigator’ series in Portugal. Puck Klaassen and Augusto Sanz secured the final place on the rally podium.
Cavigliasso said: “It’s a very hard race to define a championship. It was a long season. We started the Dakar with good feelings and we were able to win the Dakar but we weren’t able to win the title until now. I am so happy to win a World Championship. You don’t win them every day and we did a lot here to be able to win.”
Yasir Seaidan returned to action for the second time in several months to top the Challenger times on stage one from Charles Munster, Dania Akeel and Cavigliasso. A broken steering rack cost Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari dearly and he incurred massive time penalties for not finishing the special.
Klaassen topped the times in SS2 from a resurgent Al-Kuwari and Navarro but Seaidan retained a 2min 11sec advantage over Munster with Navarro, Cavigliasso and Klaassen rounding off the overall top five.
Munster then stopped in the Merzouga dunes on the third stage and Seaidan was also in trouble. That opened the door for Akeel to claim her third W2RC stage win of the season from Al-Kuwari and Cavigliasso. The result also enabled Navarro to grab a 63-second advantage over Cavigliasso in the general classification.
Akeel claimed a second successive victory on stage four but Navarro was able to take a 4min 05sec lead over Cavigliasso into the final day.
The Saudi was unable to make it three stage wins in a row and returned prematurely to Erfoud during the final stage after a propshaft failure and a fistful of penalties dropping her down the rankings. That opened the door for Al-Kuwari to claim the stage win from Munster with Cavigliasso securing the W2RC title with the fifth quickest time and Akeel recovering to take the Power Stage win.
Lopez tops Can-Am Factory Team 1-2-3 finish in SSV; Pinto wins Drivers’ title
The Portuguese duo of Alexandre Pinto and his navigator Bernardo Oliveira had already been assured of the Drivers’ and Navigators’ titles in the SSV category. With only Pinto and the Argentine duo of Manuel Andujar and Andres Frini registered for W2RC points in Morocco, attention turned to pre-Dakar testing and new team and driver combinations.
The Can-Am Factory Team filled three of the top four places in the overall SSV standings in Morocco with the Chilean duo of Francesco López and Alvaro León taking victory in an extraordinary conclusion.
They finished just 11 seconds ahead of Argentina’s Jeremias Gonzalez Ferioli and his navigator Gonzalo Rinaldi with American racer Hunter Miller and partner Jeremy Gray slipping to third after incurring a post-race six-minute time penalty. Andujar finished fourth in a South Racing machine ahead of American Kyle Chaney and Jacob Argubright in the fourth factory Can-Am.
Portugal’s João Dias claimed stage one success for Santag Racing after Pinto incurred a 40-second penalty and slipped to second ahead of Luis Cidade.
Lopez staked his claim on the second stage and finished over three minutes in front of Ferioli with Miller third in a Can-Am 1-2-3. Ferioli led overall by 5min 50sec from Miller with new champion Pinto in third and Lopez in fourth.
The Chilean was again fastest in stage three to beat Ferioli by just under two minutes. The Argentine extended his overall lead over Miller to 10min 17sec with Lopez climbing to third after Pinto hit trouble and retired.
Leader Ferioli won his first stage on day four and extended his lead over Lopez to 14min 42sec before the final stage. But the Argentine lost valuable minutes on the longer part of the final stage and that enabled Lopez to move into the virtual lead, only to lose it to Miller late on in a thrilling finish and then to regain it when the American incurred a penalty.
The Stock category for series-production cross-country machines will become part of the 2026 W2RC. Frenchman Ronald Basso and Japan’s Akira Miura used the event as a valuable test and development session with their Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body Land Cruisers and both reached the finish. They were not classified in the official results.
2025 Rally du Maroc – Top 20 final result:
1. Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Edouard Boulanger (FRA) Dacia Sandrider 15hr 11min 40sec*
2. Lucas Moraes (BRA)/Armand Monleón (ESP) Toyota Hilux 15hr 17min 23sec*
3. Joan Roma (ESP)/Alex Haro (ESP) Ford Raptor 15hr 17min 55sec*
4. Joāo Ferreira (POR)/Filipe Palmeiro (POR) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo 15hr 17min 59sec*
5. Mattias Ekström (SWE)/Emil Bergkvist (SWE) Ford Raptor 15hr 19min 09sec*
6. Saood Variawa (RSA)/François Cazalet (FRA) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo 15hr 38min 23sec*
7. Mitch Guthrie (USA)/Kellon Walch (USA) Ford Raptor 15hr 39min 00sec*
8. Eryk Goczal (POL)/Szymon Gospodarczyk (POL) Toyota Hilux 15hr 39min 13sec*
9. Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP)/Pablo Moreno (ESP) Dacia Sandrider 15hr 56min 26sec*
10. Marek Goczal (POL)/Maciej Marton (POL) Toyota Hilux 16hr 03min 09sec*
11. Martin Prokop (CZE)/Viktor Chytka (CZE) Ford Raptor 16hr 10min 46sec*
12. Juan Cruz Yacopini (ARG)/Daniel Oliveras (ESP) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo 16hr 13min 12sec*
13. Henk Lategan (RSA)/Brett Cummings (RSA) Toyota Hilux 16hr 19min 01sec*
14. Brian Baragwanath (RSA)/Leonard Cremer (RSA) Century CR7 16hr 23min 55sec
15. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL) Dacia Sandrider 16hr 24min 36sec*
16. Michal Goczal (POL)/Diego Ortega (ESP) Toyota Hilux 16hr 33min 21sec*
17. Lionel Baud (FRA)/Lucie Baud (FRA) Mini JCW Rally 3.0D 16hr 51min 30sec*
18. Pau Navarro (ESP)/Jan Rosa (ESP) Taurus T3 Max 17hr 21min 14sec*
19. Nicolas Cavigliasso (ARG)/Valentia Pertegarini (ARG) Taurus T3 Max 17hr 21min 43sec*
20. Laia Sanz (ESP)/Maurizio Gerini (ITA) Ebro S800 17hr 33min 47sec
