Morocco, Stage 5: Honda victory, but KTM junior Edgar Canet takes overall win

The final stage of this year’s Rally Morocco covered a total of 355 kilometres, including 234 kilometres on the special stage through the Chegaga Dunes region. After another liaison section, there was a 23-kilometre timed special stage leading to the bivouac in Zagora.

The starting situation: Having won Stage 4, Daniel Sanders kicked off the final day of racing. Three minutes after the Australian, his Red Bull KTM team-mate Edgar Canet set off, though he was only 1 minute 34 seconds behind the World Rally Champion in the overall standings. So if the young Spaniard were to catch up with the 32-year-old and cross the finish line at the same time as him, he would be the overall winner.

By the 91-kilometre waypoint, it was already clear that the bonus system for opening the route was not enough to offset the advantage enjoyed by those starting later. Whilst Ricky Brabec (Honda) set the fastest time and Canet was just one minute slower, Sanders was already more than four minutes behind.

Brabec, who had only a slim chance of winning the Morocco rally given he was 8 minutes behind after Stage 4, rode furiously and claimed his final stage victory in a time of 1:52:15 hours. Although the American secured third place on the podium in the process, he was unable to prevent Canet from taking the overall victory ahead of Sanders.

Remarkably, on Stage 5, four Honda and three KTM works riders occupied the top seven positions. Martim Ventura (Honda) competed in the Rally2 classification, which the Portuguese rider won convincingly ahead of Michael Docherty (Hero).

The best Hero rider in the RallyGP classification was Nacho Cornejo, who finished eighth overall. Rally2 rider Neels Theric, riding the Chinese Kove, came eleventh, ahead of Sherco ace Lorenzo Santolino.

Rally newcomer ZX Moto put in a solid performance. The fact that Skyler Howes ran out of fuel on the first day prevented the Texan from achieving a better overall position than 22nd. His team-mate Tobias Ebster, competing in the rally category, had to retire his motorbike after 149 km due to a technical problem.

After four of the five events in the 2026 World Rally-Raid Championship, Daniel Sanders leads the drivers’ standings ahead of Tosha Schareina (Honda) and Luciano Benavides (KTM), who are level on points. Given the tensions in the Middle East, it is currently unclear what the current and next seasons will look like.

Rallye du Maroc: Stage 5 results

1. Ricky Brabec (USA) – Honda – GP – 1:52:15 (hh:mm:ss)

2. Luciano Benavides (ARG) – KTM – GP – +2:36 (mm:ss)

3. Tosha Schareina (ESP) – Honda – GP – +3:03

4. Edgar Canet (ESP) – KTM – GP – +3:11

5. Daniel Sanders (AUS) – KTM – GP – +5:39

6. Martim Ventura (POR) – Honda – R2 – +6:02

7. Adrien Van Beveren (FRA) – Honda – GP – +6:09

8. Ignacio Cornejo (CHI) – Hero – GP – +6:41

9. Michael Docherty (RSA) – Hero – R2 – +7:22

10. Bruno Bozzo (ESP) – KTM – R2 – +8:21

11. Neels Theric (FRA) – Kove – R2 – +9:37

12. Preston Campbell (USA) – Honda – R2 – +10:06

13. Bruno Crivilin (BRA) – Honda – R2 – +11:42

14. Toni Mulec (SLO) – KTM – R2 – +12:16

15. Paolo Lucci (ITA) – KTM – R2 – +12:43

16. Skyler Howes (USA) – ZXMOTO – GP – +13:02

17. Ruy Barbosa (CHI) – Honda – R2 – +15:43

18. Mathieu Dovèze (FRA) – KTM – R2 – +16:28

19. Dovydas Karka (LTU) – KTM – R2 – +17:11

20. Alfredo Pellicer (ESP) – KTM – R2 – +19:37

Rallye du Maroc: Final standings after Stage 5