An excellent triumph for Monster Energy Honda Team in the Rallye du Maroc as Joan Barreda claims the victory in the first part of the marathon stage, while team-mate Kevin Benavides takes second place. Barreda grabs the overall leadership.
Joan Barreda got the second stage of the Rallye du Maroc off to a flying start, on a tricky day with tough navigation and managed to arrive at the finish-line with a hefty margin over his rivals, earning the Spaniard top spot on the overall leader board.
Argentinean rider Kevin Benavides, in spite of a couple of minor navigational lapses, handled the special with great pace to seal a very up-beat second place finish. In the overall rankings, Benavides lies in sixth place.
After yesterday’s stage, the Rallye du Maroc organisation communicated the race times to FIM officials, particularly those of the two neutralisation sections, leading to some modifications in the standings. This meant Ricky Brabec moved up a position to second place on the day. Today, the American rider thus got lumbered with having to open the track, dropping various minutes over the course of the day. Tomorrow Brabec will have the chance to make amends.
There were problems elsewhere for José Ignacio Cornejo today. A couple of navigational blunders saw the rider run out of water in the second part of the special, arriving back at bivouac at Aufous dehydrated. Tomorrow the Chilean will be seeking to make up the lost time.
The riders have now left the bikes locked away in the parc fermé Aufous, as part of the usual procedure for the opening leg of the marathon stage, where riders are not allowed outside mechanical assistance. Tomorrow the second part of the marathon will be the longest of the Rallye du Maroc. The third stage will feature three timed specials with a total of 363 kilometres, where competitors will clock up a total of 540.88 kilometres on the overall trip.
Ricky Brabec 9
Today was good. It was hot and long and it’s a marathon for the bikes, then: we tried to conserve our tyres all day. Tomorrow is a big day for all the riders. Now we rest and we will try and manage the motorcycle tomorrow as well.
Kevin Benavides
It was a very tough stage. Pretty technical and a lot of navigation. I made a couple of navigation errors and, with 80 kilometres still to run, an even bigger one: I overran by five kilometres. I was able to get back on the right track again and in the end I finished second, which is not so bad. I am happy because we can move on, which is what matters.
Private: José Ignacio “Nacho” Cornejo
This second stage was difficult, with complicated navigation. I felt good at first but before refuelling I made a couple of mistakes where I dropped several minutes. In the refuelling I was going to load my camelback, a person from the organization helped me and two kilometres after getting back on track, I found all the water was gone. So I ran out of water in the second part of the stage and in the end I was dehydrated, it was hard for me to endure, think or concentrate… and I made a couple more navigation mistakes. The only positive thing is that we are on course for the goal and we will continue to focus on the three days left.
Joan Barreda
It was a good stage. Yesterday was a calm one and today was a good day, more or less as we had expected. I was able to get out of some complicated navigation situations and as I started from further back I was able to ride a good stage. In the final part I dropped several minutes: I pushed Quintanilla who was taking it easy as his leg hurt. I slowed down and the group in front got away, but I could not get past because there was a lot of dust. I tried but I wasn’t able to. In the end, despite everything, it turned out to be a good stage.
Provisional Results Stage 2
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barreda Joan | SPA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | 4:56'27 | |
| 2 | Benavides Kevin | ARG | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | +5'36 | |
| 3 | Short Andrew | USA | Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing | Husqvarna | +5'58 | |
| 4 | Evan Branch Ross | BWA | BAS DAKAR KTM RACING TEAM | KTM | +9'10 | |
| 5 | Benavides Luciano | ARG | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | +9'31 | |
| 6 | Van Beveren Adrien | FRA | Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team | Yamaha | +9'41 | |
| 7 | de Soultrait Xavier | FRA | Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team | Yamaha | +11'05 | |
| 8 | Quintanilla Pablo | CHI | Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing | Husqvarna | +15'13 | |
| 9 | Price Toby | AUS | Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team | KTM | +15'39 | |
| 10 | Caimi Franco | ARG | Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team | Yamaha | +16'55 | |
| 11 | Walkner Matthias | AUT | Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team | KTM | +18'13 | |
| 12 | Goncalves Paulo | POR | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | +21'23 | |
| 13 | Brabec Ricky | 9 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | +21'44 |
| 14 | Tomiczek Adam | POL | Orlen Team | KTM | +22'25 | |
| 15 | Nosiglia Daniel | BOL | Team Nosiglia | Honda | +22'31 | |
| 16 | Cornejo José Ignacio "Nacho" | CHI | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | +29'57 | |
| 23 | Maré Aaron | RSA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | +53'23 |
Provisional Standings after Stage 2
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barreda Joan | SPA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | 8:44'09 | |
| 2 | Short Andrew | USA | Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing | Husqvarna | +6'25 | |
| 3 | Benavides Luciano | ARG | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | +8'27 | |
| 4 | Van Beveren Adrien | FRA | Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team | Yamaha | +09'38 | |
| 5 | Evan Branch Ross | BWA | BAS DAKAR KTM RACING TEAM | KTM | +11'07 | |
| 6 | Benavides Kevin | ARG | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | +11'51 | |
| 7 | de Soultrait Xavier | FRA | Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team | Yamaha | +11'59 | |
| 8 | Price Toby | AUS | Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team | KTM | +12'57 | |
| 9 | Quintanilla Pablo | CHI | Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing | Husqvarna | +15'05 | |
| 10 | Walkner Matthias | AUT | Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team | KTM | +15'08 | |
| 11 | Caimi Franco | ARG | Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team | Yamaha | +17'16 | |
| 12 | Brabec Ricky | 9 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | +17'55 |
| 13 | Nosiglia Daniel | BOL | Team Nosiglia | Honda | +22'16 | |
| 14 | Goncalves Paulo | POR | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | +26'13 | |
| 15 | Cornejo José Ignacio "Nacho" | CHI | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | +36'14 | |
| 23 | Maré Aaron | RSA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | +1:14'22 |
Location Information
Morocco has always been a land of rally raid. The story began in 1982 with the arrival of Paris-Agadir, the first rally raid to run in Morocco. The following year, the rally took the name of ‘Atlas Rally’ and became the flagship rally to the Rally Raids calendar. The Atlas… read more.
| Winner 2023 | Toby Price (KTM) |
| Winner 2022 | Skyler Howes (Husqvarna) |
| Winner 2021 | Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) |
| Winner 2020 | Cancelled due the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| Winner 2019 | Toby Price (KTM) |
| Winner 2018 | Toby Price (KTM) |
| Winner 2017 | Matthias Walkner (KTM) |
| Winner 2016 | Toby Price (KTM) |
| Winner 2015 | Sam Sunderland (KTM) |
| Winner 2014 | Marc Coma (KTM) |
| Winner 2013 | Paulo Gonçalves (Honda) |
| Winner 2012 | Cyril Despres (KTM) |
Agadir, Morocco - View in Google Maps
