Saturday marked the eighth and final stage for the 2025 Morocco Desert Challenge. Some like Valentin Sertilhanges hoped to make one final effort to win their class. Others such as Mitchel van den Brink sought to ice the overall wins.

Cédric Goumaz was on the road to making history: the first tractor to finish a rally raid. On four comically large wheels, Goumaz navigated his trusty Massey Ferguson MF 8S to the end in Ouarzazate, completing the stage fifth in Truck and securing a fourth overall in the category.

He was too far back to catch Egbert Wingens for a class podium, though to even finish after attrition wiped out so many contenders like Gert Huzink is certainly something to celebrate. While such a success doesn’t mean he’ll be fielding it at the Dakar Rally anytime soon (though he’d love to), it’s a step in the right direction for the project.

“A wave of emotion at the finish line. Weeks of work, thousands of kilometers, a one-of-a-kind challenge. And they did it,” wrote his MF Desert Challenge team.

Huzink’s hopes of winning the Truck overall were dashed by a fire in Stage #6, but he was able to end the race on a high note when he edged out Martin van den Brink for the stage win by 5:28. His cousin Kay, who inherited the lead after Gert’s DNF, finished the stage third.

While Martin was unable to win a stage as the Huzinks won all eight in Truck, son Mitchel van den Brink held off Geoff Minitt and Quad rider-turned-SSV driver Mikołaj Krysik for the SSV stage victory. He cleared Minitt by 1:17 and Krysik, the latter ending his first desert rally raid with a stage podium.

“It was a great stage. Really fast, with many WRC-style paths,” said the younger van den Brink. “We attacked and battled with the cars of Leo Baud and (Simon) Vitse. It was a very nice day for us. We were sharp and are super happy with the result.”

On the Bike side, Sertilhanges entered the final day second overall behind Amaury Baratin by 7:34. Sertilhanges roared to life on Saturday to score the stage win and beat Baratin, who finished third, by 11:31 to steal the overall victory. Nicolas Horeaux was sandwiched between them, just 1:59 back of Sertilhanges.

Stage #8 winners

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Total Time
Bike	102	Valentin Sertilhanges	Horizon Moto 95	3:38:55
SSV	201	Mitchel van den Brink	Eurol Rally Sport	3:19:48
Car	308	Michiel Becx	Shiver Offroad	3:11:59
Truck	502	Gert Huzink	Kuipers-Jongbloed Hybrid Dakar Team	3:26:54

Overall winners

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Total Time
Bike	102	Valentin Sertilhanges	Horizon Moto 95	34:14:16
SSV	201	Mitchel van den Brink	Eurol Rally Sport	29:14:57
Car	306	Lionel Baud	X-raid Mini JCW Team	28:35:50
Truck	505	Kay Huzink	Kuipers-Jongbloed Hybrid Dakar Team	31:12:10

Featured image credit: MF Desert Challenge