Morocco Desert Challenge officials warned that Stage #3 would be filled with broken dunes and soft sand, and that even driving in a straight line would be “rarely possible” at times. Unfortunately, even the warnings couldn’t stop a few cars from sitting wheels-up.

Multiple drivers had their races upended by accidents and rollovers, including those running top ten. Koen Wauters, who was eighth after two stages and had finished fourth in Stage #2, hit a cut dune and landed nose-first barely two minutes after the start. The damage to his Toyota Hilux’s steering rack was bad enough that it knocked him out of the stage.

“At the beginning of the stage, there was a dune belt that was about 35 kilometers long,” explained Wauters. “We were 11 kilometers in and on our way when we went over a small dune into by a plateau, after which it suddenly dropped steeply. The dune turned out to be cut off. You don’t just see something like that, you experience it. A few seconds later, the car landed on its nose.

“[…] If we had landed just two meters more to the right, nothing bad would’ve happened, but that wasn’t the case. That fourth on Sunday gave us confidence but didn’t lead to overconfidence. We had the same attitude as Saturday and Sunday, with the same desire and drive, but unfortunately got a different result.”

His teammate Cedric Feryn also had a rough landing that destroyed the steering rod and leaf spring on his Mercedes-Benz 2635. Pascal Feryn’s Hilux ran into large rocks that shredded a tire to pieces.

Bruno Miot’s MD Optimus also encountered a broken dune shortly after the start, but the result was more violent as it launched his car into multiple rolls. Miot also had to bow out, ruining his race after sitting 12th overall.

The Century CR6 of Frédéric Chesneau suffered the same fate as Miot as he rolled down a dune. Unlike Miot and Wauters, however, Chesneau was able to continue afterward and finished 26th for cars.

SSV contender Erik Van Loon had two flat tires, and changing them proved annoying due to the jack and air gun not working as hoped.

“On top of that, the stage was not what we expected,” Van Loon continued. “At the beginning, there were some piles of sand that had little to do with real dunes and the camel grass that was promised wasn’t. We mainly got a bunch of stones and a waypoint that we could not find. We want to leave this day behind us quickly.”

Even bikes weren’t safe from trouble. The exhaust on Greg Gilson’s 1980 Honda XLS 125 came off during the day, costing him an hour.

While everyone struggled, Mitchel van den Brink thrived as he set the fastest time among the entire field, even with a flat after hitting a rock. Conversely, a stone knocked the oil filter from the steering pump in his dad Martin’s truck, dropping him to fourth in class for the day.

Kay Huzink won the stage in Truck to move up to second behind his cousin Gert, trailing by 22:47 in the overall.

Stage #3 winners

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Total Time
Bike	103	Arnau Lledó	Pedregà Team	4:10:45
SSV	201	Mitchel van den Brink	Eurol Rally Sport	3:16:09
Car	303	Simon Vitse	MD Rallye Sport	3:19:31
Truck	505	Kay Huzink	Kuipers-Jongbloed Hybrid Dakar Team	3:33:28

Leaders after Stage #3

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Total Time
Bike	101	Amaury Baratin	Horizon Moto 95	11:35:56
SSV	201	Mitchel van den Brink	Eurol Rally Sport	9:53:36
Car	306	Lionel Baud	X-raid Mini JCW Team	9:53:29
Truck	502	Gert Huzink	Kuipers-Jongbloed Hybrid Dakar Team	10:19:09

Featured image credit: Skybox Rally-Raid