2024 Rallye Du Maroc: Prologue highlights and results – Schareina off to a flying start

Video highlights and results from the 2024 Rallye Du Maroc 25-kilometre prologue where Monster Energy Honda’s Tosha Schariena makes it four from four sprint victories in the World Rally-Raid Championship rounds contested this season.

267 vehicles took to the start of the 25-kilometre Rallye Du Maroc prologue, the final round of the 2024 World Rally-Raid Championship.

 In the RallyGP class, Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy Honda) took the win ahead of world championship leader Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) and Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) both on identical times.

As ever the prologue was tight on times with the top eight within one minute and five of the top 10 clocking identical times.

Schareina making it four from four and winning the prologue wasn’t exactly a surprise however. The Honda rider is ‘the man’ when it comes to these short charges. He already won the Dakar prologue in January, then he did the same on the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal and the Desafio Ruta 40 YPF Infinia this year.

The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge prologue was won by Ross Branch, but Schareina wasn't there…

Tosha Schariena: “The prologue was pretty gnarly, it was sketchy in some parts of the track as there were narrow, rocky sections. But it was really good for us with the first place and we’ll have to get a good position in the starting order for tomorrow and be ready for the race.”

In Rally2, Edgar Canet (BAS World KTM Racing) beat team-mate Bradley Cox and Romain Dumontier (Honda Team). In Rally3 Enduro Cup Afriquia, Souleymane Addahri did the Africa Rallye Team proud. Antanas Kanopkinas (CFMoto Thunder Racing) won the quad category.

Settled in the secluded town in the Draa River Valley in the bivouac for the next two stages, Monday’s action will see 180km of liaison and 227km of timed special stage as the route heads in a South Westerly direction on a loop out and back from Zagora.

David Castera On Stage 1:

“The first two stages take place in the M'Hamid region, which has been badly affected by the rain. We've obviously kept the Chegaga dunes, but the bad weather has meant that we've had to add some stony tracks in order to find ground that will ensure the race can be run smoothly.

“We've had to remodel the special stage, which nevertheless retains its distance. It also retains its 20 kilometres of dunes, split into two different routes. The navigation has changed and the tracks are not very visible, so we've had to add some WPs. It's hard to say where we're going to end up in relation to the route’s initial philosophy. Special Stage 1 will tell us more about what awaits the competitors over the first two days of the race.”

2024 Rallye Du Maroc Prologue top 50 results:

2024 Rallye Du Maroc schedule:

7 October: Stage 1 Zagora - Zagora (liaison: 180 km / special: 227 km / Total: 407 km)

8 October: Stage 2 Zagora - Zagora (liaison: 158 km / special stage: 317 km / Total: 475 km)

9 October: Stage 3 Zagora - Mengoub/Bouârfa (liaison: 360 km / special stage: 327 km / Total: 687 km)

10 October: Stage 4 Mengoub/Bouârfa - Mengoub/Bouârfa (liaison: 63 km / special stage: 315 km / Total: 378 km)

11 October: Stage 5 Mengoub/Bouârfa - Mengoub/Bouârfa (liaison: 103 km / special: 273 km / Total: 376 km)

Local time indicated: GMT +1

Photo Credit: Honda

Video Credit: ODC Events