2023 Rallye du Maroc: Yazeed Al-Rajhi completes Toyota T1 season sweep

If three Dakar Rallies and two World Rally-Raid Championships aren’t enough to convince people that the Toyota Hilux is the top rally raid vehicle today, how about the Hilux winning all five W2RC races in 2023?

Toyota had already clinched the manufacturer’s championship at the penultimate round in Argentina, but put the cherry atop their title at the Rallye du Maroc as Yazeed Al-Rajhi recorded his second win of 2023 after the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. He led a 1–2 finish for Overdrive Racing with Denis Krotov in tow, the latter scoring his best career W2RC finish.

Both of Al-Rajhi’s W2RC wins came on consistency as he failed to win any stages but the frontrunners dropped out. Al-Rajhi himself never finished worse than fifth across the five days.

Nasser Al-Attiyah only needed four points to secure the title when he led Al-Rajhi by fifty-one entering Morocco. He and his Hilux quickly achieved that by winning the first two stages, and he looked poised to claim his fourth victory in five races. The latter ended up falling apart in Stage #4 when one of the rear driveshafts broke, forcing him to drive in front-wheel-drive before the resulting strain led to the right front driveshaft giving way too. He bowed out of the rally altogether on the fifth and final leg with a crash just ten kilometres in. The same had occurred in Abu Dhabi when he won the first three stages only to crash out while Al-Rajhi took the win.

While certainly not an ideal end to the season and possibly his Toyota tenure as his free agency status remains in the air for 2024, Al-Attiyah still waltzed away with the title by twenty-four points on Al-Rajhi. Juan Cruz Yacopini finished fourth overall and third among W2RC competitors to secure a Toyota podium sweep of the final standings.

“2023 has been a fantastic year for the TGR W2RC team,” said Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC boss Alain Dujardyn. “We started by winning the Dakar Rally and, after great determination and excellent teamwork, managed to secure all three W2RC titles. This is the second consecutive year of W2RC success for us, an achievement we’re all very happy to celebrate.

“I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to all the engineers, mechanics, agencies and sponsors involved in our 2023 campaign. Without their collective efforts, as well as those of the drivers and co-drivers, we would have been able to achieve all our goals. Finally, I would also like to thank the wider Toyota family in the service park, including the privateers who campaign in our cars. Their sportsmanship and camaraderie throughout the season have been without equal, and it is a pleasure to continually push the limits for better together. The GR DKR Hilux T1+ has proven its strength and durability once again, and we look forward to embarking on a further journey with this magnificent car in 2024 and beyond.”

While Toyota reigned supreme for yet another season, Team Audi Sport had plenty to look forward to as they prepare for their swan song Dakar Rally in 2024. After a disastrous Dakar in January and soul searching over the next few months, the team returned to the W2RC with a vengeance in Morocco as Mattias Ekström won the Prologue and beat Al-Attiyah for the Stage #3 win on pace, though he was already out of overall contention due to an hour-long penalty for missing a waypoint on the first stage.

Even with Ekström unable to contend for the overall, team-mate Stéphane Peterhansel picked up the slack by winning Stage #4. It was the Dakar legend’s first stage victory in the world championship since the 2022 Rallye du Maroc‘s final day as an Open Car entry. Peterhansel narrowed the gap to just 3:49 behind Al-Rajhi going into the last stage, only for Audi’s Dakar demons to haunt him again in the first thirty kilometres.

Bahrain Raid Xtreme, Toyota’s primary rival in the championship, skipped Argentina to focus on Morocco even if it meant sacrificing Sébastien Loeb‘s hopes of vying for the title. Unfortunately for the Prodrive programme, Loeb was another Stage #4 victim as he crashed into a ditch while running second overall. Orlando Terranova salvaged the race for the team by winning the next day, though a broken suspension in Stage #2 prevented him from making inroads in the general ranking. Non-championship driver Cristian Baumgart was the lone Prodrive Hunter in the top ten.

Krzysztof Hołowczyc finished twenty-second after his Mini John Cooper Works Rally Plus‘s power steering failed from the very first stage. He spent the rest of the rally trying to manage the steering along with suspension issues. While the struggles prevented Hołowczyc from bolstering Mini’s standing in the manufacturer’s championship, Prodrive’s own troubles allowed Mini to hang on for third by just two points.

“It was very hard because we were driving at the limit of our car to see how much we could push the car and where our limits are,” Hołowczyc recapped. “The amazing thing is that all the factory cars had problems, the cars were stopped on the stages due to breakdowns, and we practiced the same. After six days, we are much smarter about the endurance of the car and what we can afford. We have to remember that the Dakar, for which this rally was a test, is very long and we have to make sure the car is in one piece. There the winners are at the finish line. We survived the Rallye du Maroco, Łukasz (Kurzeja) improved navigation a lot and we can say that the next step is done.”

Despite not competing for points, Nani Roma impressed in the maiden W2RC race for the M-Sport Ford Ranger, finishing third overall.

As is customary, the rally serves as a dress rehearsal for those running the 2024 Dakar Rally, meaning T1 was filled with unique names hoping to experiment in new rides. Guillaume de Mévius was one of these drivers as the T3 regular finished twelfth in his first T1 start. Pau Navarro, who had a bigger jump from T4 to T1, quickly impressed as the top T1.1 subcategory driver though was set back by a broken driveshaft and tyre punctures.

Simon Vitse finished twenty-sixth in the new MD Optimus EVO 5. He fell behind early with a mechanical in Stage #2 but scored a top ten in ninth two days later.

T1 overall results

Finish	Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Class	Time	Margin
1	201	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	Timo Gottschalk	Overdrive Racing	T1+	14:49:09	Leader
2	210	Denis Krotov	Konstantin Zhiltsov	Overdrive Racing	T1+	15:23:26	+ 34:17
3	211	Nani Roma*	Alex Haro Bravo	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	T1+	15:32:12	+ 43:03
4	202	Juan Cruz Yacopini	Daniel Oliveiras	Overdrive Racing	T1+	15:46:17	+ 57:08
5	225	Eugenio Amos*	Paolo Ceci	Overdrive Racing	T1+	15:49:22	+ 1:00:13
6	205	Martin Prokop	Viktor Chytka	ORLEN Benzina Team	T1+	15:52:57	+ 1:03:48
7	223	Marcos Baumgart*	Kleber Cincea	X Rally Team	T1+	15:57:28	+ 1:08:19
8	206	Mattias Ekström	Emil Bergkvist	Team Audi Sport	T1.U	16:34:23	+ 1:45:14
9	228	Lionel Baud*	Lucie Baud	Century Racing	T1.2	17:00:59	+ 2:11:50
10	235	Michael Van Eikeren*	Jasper Riezebos	Dakar Team Van Eikeren	T1.2	17:25:14	+ 2:36:05
11	230	Jean-Rémy Bergounhe*	Lionel Costes	MD Rallye Sport	T1.2	17:47:47	+ 2:58:38
12	216	Guillaume de Mévius*	François Cazalet	Overdrive Racing	T1+	18:04:32	+ 3:15:23
13	227	Isidre Esteve*	José Maria Villalobos Valcarcel	Repsol Toyota Rally Team	T1+	18:11:52	+ 3:22:43
14	209	Carlos Sainz	Lucas Cruz	Team Audi Sport	T1.U	18:36:02	+ 3:46:53
15	232	Benoit Fretin*	Cédric Duplé	YDEO Competition	T1.2	18:55:29	+ 4:06:20
16	233	Urvo Männama*	Risto Lepik	Rally Raid Estonia	T1.2	19:31:45	+ 4:42:36
17	234	Gintas Petrus*	Jose Marques	Toyota Gazoo Racing Baltics	T1.2	20:22:45	+ 5:33:36
18	208	Stéphane Peterhansel	Édouard Boulanger	Team Audi Sport	T1.U	27:55:11	+ 13:06:02
19	200	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Mathieu Baumel	Toyota Gazoo Racing	T1+	28:59:10	+ 14:10:01
20	217	Jean-Luc Ceccaldi	Thomas Gaidella	MD Rallye Sport	T1.2	34:21:19	+ 19:32:10
21	215	Orlando Terranova	Bernardo Graue	Bahrain Raid Xtreme	T1+	34:34:28	+ 19:45:19
22	212	Krzysztof Hołowczyc	Łukasz Kurzeja	X-raid Team	T1+	35:08:22	+ 20:19:13
23	203	Sébastien Loeb	Fabian Lurquin	Bahrain Raid Xtreme	T1+	35:12:11	+ 20:23:02
24	222	Cristian Baumgart*	Alberto Andreotti	X Rally Team	T1+	35:12:30	+ 20:23:21
25	226	Simon Vitse*	Frédéric Lefebvre	MD Rallye Sport	T1.2	35:35:34	+ 20:46:25
26	219	Pau Navarro	Gonçalo Reis	FN Speed Team	T1.1	37:20:23	+ 22:31:14
27	229	Maik Willems*	Robert Van Pelt	Dakar Team Van Eikeren	T1.1	38:51:36	+ 24:02:27
DNF	207	Guerlain Chicherit	Alex Winocq	Overdrive Racing	T1+	DNF	N/A
DNF	214	Mathieu Serradori	Loïc Minaudier	Century Racing	T1.2	DNF	N/A
DNF	218	Magdalena Zajac	Jacek Czachor	Proxcars TME Rally Team	T1.1	DNF	N/A
DNF	231	Daniel Alonso Villaron*	Alejandro Lopez Fernandez	Past Racing	T1.1	DNF	N/A
DNF	236	Patrice Étienne*	Antoine Sanchez	YDEO Competition	T1.2	DNF	N/A
DNF	237	Frédéric Tuheil*	Jean-Jacques Martinez	Sodicars Racing	T1.1	DNF	N/A
DNF	238	Henk de Jong*	Pieter van Kruijsdijk	Dakar Team Van Eikeren	T1.1	DNF	N/A

T1 stage winners

Stage	Driver	Time
Prologue	Mattias Ekström	10:19.8
Stage #1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	3:15:32
Stage #2	Nasser Al-Attiyah	2:52:29
Stage #3	Mattias Ekström	2:56:36
Stage #4	Stéphane Peterhansel	3:30:49
Stage #5	Orlando Terranova	1:57:42

Overall winners

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Time
T1	201	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	Toyota Gazoo Racing	14:49:09
T2	251	Ronald Basso*	Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body	22:14:17
T3	315	Marek Goczał	EnergyLandia Rally Team	16:22:12
T4	403	João Ferreira	South Racing Can-Am	18:26:24
T5	506	Michiel Becx*	Team de Rooy	21:32:34
RallyGP	8	Toby Price	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	15:56:43
Rally2	32	Bradley Cox	BAS World KTM Racing Team	17:06:37
Rally3	164	Cheikh Yves Jacquemain	Africa Rallye Team	23:42:39
Quad	186	Alexandre Giroud*	Drag’on Rally Team	21:07:24
Open Auto	601	Jérôme Cambier*	MD Rallye Sport	21:21:46
Open SSV	653	Tomas Mickus*	BRO Racing	21:42:23
Road to Dakar Bike	71	Toby Hederics*	BAS World KTM Racing Team	19:11:16
Road to Dakar SSV	420	William Grarre*	Team Horizon Off-Road	21:50:39

W2RC standings

Unlike T3 and T4, T1 does not have its own standings and instead uses a championship in which the aforementioned categories can also earn points based on their finishes among all FIA W2RC entries.

Drivers’ standings

Rank	Driver	Points	Margin
1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	205	Leader
2	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	181	– 24
3	Juan Cruz Yacopini	132	– 73
4	Sébastien Loeb	112	– 93
5	Sebastian Halpern	89	– 116
6	Martin Prokop	81	– 124
7	Mattias Ekström #	77	– 128
8	Denis Krotov	64	– 141
9	Guerlain Chicherit	56	– 149
10	Seth Quintero	48	– 157
11	Austin Jones	43	– 162
12	Mitch Guthrie	38	– 167
T-13	Cristina Gutiérrez	31	– 174
T-13	Guoyu Zhang	31	– 174
T-13	Wei Han	31	– 174
16	Rokas Baciuška #	24	– 181
17	Mathieu Serradori	22	– 183
18	João Ferreira #	20	– 185
19	Marek Goczał #	19	– 186
20	Francisco Lopéz Contardo	15	– 190
21	Carlos Sainz	11	– 194
T-22	Stéphane Peterhansel	10	– 195
T-22	Claude Fournier	10	– 195
T-24	David Zille	9	– 196
T-24	Zi Yunliang	9	– 196
T-24	Pau Navarro #	9	– 196
T-24	Orlando Terranova	9	– 196
T-28	Kees Koolen #	8	– 197
T-28	Eryk Goczał	8	– 197
30	Dania Akeel	7	– 198
31	Aliyyah Koloc	6	– 199
32	Jean-Luc Ceccaldi	5	– 200
33	Shinsuke Umeda	2	– 203
34	Michal Goczał #	1	– 204
	Erik Van Loon #	0	– 205

Co-drivers’ standings

Co-drivers do not earn points if their driver is not competing for the W2RC.

Rank	Co-Driver	Driver	Points	Margin
1	Mathieu Baumel	Nasser Al-Attyah	205	Leader
2	Timo Gottschalk	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	162	– 43
3	Daniel Oliveiras	Juan Cruz Yacopini	132	– 73
4	Fabian Lurquin	Sébastien Loeb	112	– 93
5	Bernardo Graue	Sebastian Halpern, Orlando Terranova	98	– 107
6	Viktor Chytka	Martin Prokop	81	– 124
7	Emil Bergkvist #	Mattias Ekström #	77	– 128
8	Konstantin Zhiltsov	Denis Krotov	64	– 141
9	Alex Winocq	Guerlain Chicherit	56	– 149
10	Dennis Zenz	Seth Quintero	48	– 157
11	Gustavo Gugelmin	Austin Jones	43	– 162
12	Kellon Walch	Mitch Guthrie	38	– 167
T-13	Ma Li	Wei Han	31	– 174
T-13	Pablo Moreno Huete	Cristina Gutiérrez	31	– 174
15	Oriol Mena #	Eryk Goczał #, Guoyu Zhang	29	– 176
16	Oriol Vidal Montijano #	Rokas Baciuška #	24	– 181
17	Loïc Minaudier	Mathieu Serradori	22	– 183
T-18	Dirk Von Zitzewitz	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	19	– 186
T-18	Maciej Marton #	Marek Goczał #	19	– 186
20	Filipe Palmeiro #	João Ferreira #	12	– 193
T-21	Bruno Jacomy	Hernán Garcés, Lucas Del Rio*	11	– 194
T-21	Szymon Gospodarczyk #	Michal Goczał #, Claude Fournier	11	– 194
T-21	Lucas Cruz	Carlos Sainz	11	– 194
T-24	Jean-Pierre Garcin	Guoyu Zhang	10	– 195
T-24	Édouard Boulanger	Stéphane Peterhansel	10	– 195
T-26	François Cazalet #	Guillaume de Mévius, Pau Navarro	9	– 196
T-26	Sha He	Zi Yunliang	9	– 196
T-26	Sebastian Cesana	David Zille	9	– 196
T-29	Manuel Porem	João Ferreira, Rui Carneiro*	8	– 73
T-29	Wouter Rosegaar	Kees Koolen	8	– 73
31	Sébastien Delaunay #	Erik van Loon #	7	– 74
32	Stéphane Duple	Aliyyah Koloc	6	– 199
33	Cédric Duplé #	Jean-Luc Ceccaldi, Benoit Fretin*	5	– 200
34	Juan Pablo Latrach	Francisco López Contardo, Hernán Garcés*	4	– 201
35	Maurizio Dominella	Shinsuke Umeda	2	– 203
	Alex Haro Bravo	Orlando Terranova, Nani Roma*	0	– 205

Manufacturers’ standings

Rank	Manufacturer	Points	Margin
1	Toyota	230	Leader
2	Mini	127	– 103
3	Prodrive	125	– 105
	BAIC	0	– 230