Eryk Goczał and Martin Koloc will be without their co-drivers for the Rallye du Maroc due to last-minute emergencies. Goczał’s usual navigator Oriol Mena is staying home in Spain to attend to a family matter, while Koloc’s partner David Schovánek opted to sit out the race citing what Koloc said was “acute health complications.”
Álex Haro has been entrusted with calling the shots for Goczał in the #307 Taurus T3 Max, while Mirko Brun will make his debut in a T1+ car as the navigator for Koloc’s Red-Lined REVO+ GT-R.
Haro has worked as a navigator for over a decade, with the 2024 Dakar Rally marking his tenth start in the event when he was the co-driver for Nani Roma. The Spaniard has two Dakar stage wins to his name, both with Giniel de Villiers. In April, he linked up with X-raid Team to work with Dakar winner Carlos Sainz at the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid, finishing fourth.
“I want to really greet Oriol’s father, because unfortunately in Rallye du Maroc Oriol will not be driving with me, he cannot,” Goczał told Cross-Country Rally News. “Although I will be joined in the team by Álex Haro, a T1 co-driver, which I think also gives me a great opportunity to get a step further into the T1 world, to learn more.
“I truly cannot say how happy I am to be back racing after the Dakar. I think we are much more prepared than the Dakar and we’ll give it all we’ve got.”
Brun won the 2022 FIA European Baja Cup in the SSV category as the navigator for Amerigo Ventura. The two split after a difficult 2023 campaign but both managed to land on their feet since, with Brun winning his home country’s Italian Baja in July in a Toyota Hilux Overdrive driven by Manuele Mengozzi. He is also a two-time SSV national champion.
The Italian Baja was his second time doing an international cross-country rally outside of a side-by-side after navigating for Abdullah Al-Haydan at the 2022 Ha’il Rally in a Nissan Patrol, finishing third in the T1N class.
Koloc’s REVO+ GT-R meets FIA T1+ regulation but has not been homologated for competition in the traditional Ultimate category, and is thus entered as an Open car. Mengozzi’s Hilux was a T1.1.
“It was a bit of a rush, but fortunately I was free,” commented Brun. “I’m really looking forward to it and it will be an honour to be part of the Buggya ZM Racing team.”
The Rallye du Maroc begins Sunday.
