Toyota triumph in Morocco: Seth Quintero wins and leads the World Rally Raid Championship

Seth Quintero is currently the ‘rising star’ of the World Rally Raid Championship (aka W2RC). The 24-year-old Californian, who won the Desafio Ruta 40 rally in Argentina four months ago, has now also won the next round in Morocco, which took place after a four-month break. The African desert rally was held for the 27th time.

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Consistency was the key to Quintero’s success as a driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing-W2RC. Although Quintero never finished higher than third in any of the five stages, he was consistently among the frontrunners. With this victory, he has now overtaken Sébastien Loeb (Dacia) to take the lead in the World Championship standings.

Quintero is not only the youngest ever winner of the Rally of Morocco, but also the youngest leader in the World Championship standings.

Loeb, who was unlucky in Morocco despite winning a stage, trails by 14 points, whilst his Dacia team-mate Nassar Al Attiyah, who was also dogged by bad luck, trails by 19. The Toyota drivers Joao Ferreira and Henk Lategan, on 48 and 49 points respectively, still have a mathematical chance of winning the World Championship.

Meanwhile, Marek Goczał (Energylandia Rally), who has switched to Ford, has secured the first Masters title awarded in the W2RC.

Quintero took the overall lead after yesterday’s penultimate loop and defended it confidently on the 259-kilometre-long final stage around the desert oasis town of Zagora. He is the first American to have his name added to the list of overall winners in Morocco. His success also marks Toyota’s seventh victory in the Moroccan Sahara. The Japanese manufacturer is thus back on the road to success three years after Yazeed Al Rajhi’s triumphant run.

Quintero had already won the Morocco Rally in 2022, although at that time he was competing in the Challenger category.

“The team did a fantastic job, so all the credit goes to them. It was a really intense week and it’s great to come home with the win. It’s incredibly exciting to now head into the final round of the World Championship as the leader,” said Quintero, commenting on his success.

The stage victory on the final day remained in the balance for a long time. At the 250-kilometre mark, Eryk Goczal and Szymon Gospodarczyk (Ford) and Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger (Dacia) were tied for the lead and battled fiercely right up to the finish. A few hundred metres before the finish, the French duo lost a wheel for unknown reasons, meaning the final-day victory went to the Polish team.

For Toyota, the triumph in Morocco was complete, as the Japanese manufacturer took the top three places in the overall standings. Joao Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro achieved their best result to date in the W2RC World Championship with second place (+4.23 minutes), whilst the South Africans Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings took third place (+4.42). They were followed by three Ford Raptor cars. The best Blue Oval duo were Nani Roma and Alex Haro, who finished fourth, 7.01 minutes behind. Behind them, Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch took fifth place (+8.23), with Carlos Sainz and Dani Oliveras in sixth (+9.25).

This first all-Toyota podium in three years brings the Japanese team back within striking distance of the Dacia Sandriders in the manufacturers’ standings.

Im Auto nach Argentinien auch in Marokko vorne: Matthias Walkner

Foto: Red Bull

It didn’t take Matthias Walkner long to find his feet in the SSV category with his Can-Am Maverick, fielded by the German South Racing team. The Austrian, alongside his new co-driver Oriol Mena, won three stages and finished second on each of the other two days on his way to a commanding overall victory. The winner of the 2018 Dakar Motorcycle Rally is thus continuing to cause a sensation on four wheels in his first W2RC season. The victory in Morocco follows his successful run at the World Championship round in Argentina in the Challenger class.

Defender-Pilot Rokas Baciuska zementierte den Titel in der Stock-Kategorie

Foto: Red Bull

In the Stock class for production-based cars, Stéphane Peterhansel celebrated his third consecutive Rally Raid victory at the wheel of his Defender Dakar D7X-R. Upon crossing the finish line, the championship title was also secured for Peterhansel’s 26-year-old team-mate, Rokas Baciuska (Lithuania).

The Rally Raid World Championship is (expected to) continue from 22 to 27 November with the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, the fifth and final round of the Rally Raid World Championship.