When Aliyyah Koloc was sidelined by surgery in the summer, her father Martin Koloc got behind the wheel for the first time since before her birth. Now, the two will race together, albeit in different categories.
Aliyyah is set to make her racing return at the Rallye du Maroc, the final race of the World Rally-Raid Championship, in the Red-Lined REVO T1+. Whereas her entry is in the Ultimate category, Martin will drive the Red-Lined REVO+ GT-R in the Open class. Both will be fielded by the family-run Buggyra ZM Racing. Sébastien Delauney will once again serve as Aliyyah’s navigator while David Schovanek does so for Martin.
Martin took over the REVO T1+ in August while Aliyyah was recovering from her surgery, the Hungarian Baja marking his cross-country rally début and his first race since retiring from the European Truck Racing Championship at the end of the 1999 season. However, he withdrew halfway due to safety concerns surrounding the course which he felt were validated by a pair of driver injuries due to rollovers.
He went the distance in his second rally later that month at Baja Poland, where he finished tenth among competitors signed up for the Polish Cross-Country Rally Championship and fifth in the Ultimate class. Buggyra also brought two trucks to Poland for Martin Šoltys and Karel Poslední, both of whom will be racing the Rallye du Maroc in the same vehicles.
If things go well in Morocco, the plan is for Aliyyah to drive the REVO+ GT-R full time in 2025. As the name suggests, it uses an engine from the Nissan R35 GT-R, specifically a 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V6 VR38DETT engine. Although it has seen action in the South African Rally-Raid Championship, the engine is too powerful for FIA regulations unless it is de-tuned, meaning it is thus entered as an Open car in the meantime.
Otherwise, the GT-R and the REVO T1+ are both T1+ cars.
“Our main target of entering the Rallye du Maroc is to confirm our developments made in testing over the summer and to gather as much experience as possible in the dunes, a terrain similar to that we will find at the Dakar,” said Martin. “We decided to bring the Red-Lined GT-R turbo to the Rallye du Maroc to test its behaviour under racing conditions, particularly in the dunes.
“The car is at the beginning of its development, so this rally is very important for us to decide whether we switch to a turbo-powered car for the Dakar or whether we stay with the V8 which is less powerful but probably more reliable at the current stage. It would be ideal for Aliyyah to race the Lined T1+ GT-R at the Dakar, as it will put her on the same level as the other turbo-charged cars of the T1+ category. But first of all, we have to collect a lot of data in Morocco to be able to make that decision.”
Aliyyah ran three of the first four W2RC races, finishing twenty-fifth in Ultimate at the Dakar Rally and seventh at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. She retired from the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid with a mechanical problem and did not race the Desafío Ruta 40.
“I will try to beat his times though he has the quicker car,” the younger Koloc quipped.
The Rallye du Maroc will take place on 6–11 October.
