After winning the World Rally-Raid Championship‘s Rally3 title in 2022, Amine Echiguer will graduate to Rally2 starting with the Rallye du Maroc on 13–18 October.
The Rallye du Maroc serves as Echiguer’s home rally, hailing from Rabat, Morocco; the event was the first of two rounds with Rally3 riders during the inaugural W2RC season in 2022. Riding for his own team, Echiguer took the Rally3 overall lead after winning Stage #1B and scored three more stage wins to secure the general victory. He previously won the rally in the 2021 Enduro Cup, the first Moroccan to achieve the feat.
At the Andalucía Rally, riding for Adventura Touareg, Echiguer chased Jeremy Miroir who won every stage and finished third, but being the only points-eligible rider to run multiple events coupled with going two-for-two in podiums secured him the Rally3 championship.
Rally3 is the lowest rung on the W2RC bike ladder, reserved for production bikes and primarily filled by amateur riders. As the final step before the premier RallyGP, Rally2 allows prototype bikes to compete alongside stock models and can go faster than their Rally3 counterparts.
Among Echiguer’s rally starts in 2023 to date are the Carta Rallye in March and the Morocco Desert Challenge the following month, both held in his home country.
While he has not publicly declared his intent, Echiguer hopes to eventually run the Dakar Rally and the move to Rally2 provides him with more of an opportunity to do so as Rally3 does not race at Dakar. The Rallye du Maroc is also primarily used by teams as a final rehearsal before Dakar two months later. After not being present at the first two rounds in 2023, a trio of Rally3 riders appeared at the Sonora Rally where Massimo Camurri swept the race.
