Daniel Sanders already has the World Rally-Raid Championship locked up, but the manufacturers’ title is technically still up for grabs even if KTM basically has that assured too (hard to lose when you’re four-for-four on the season, after all). Still, Honda wants to end the season on a high note.

The Prologue is just a, well, prologue, but FIM times counting for the overall mean it’s still vital to some extent for bike riders. Honda thus wanted to make the most of it, and they certainly did that as Ricky Brabec and Tosha Schareina led the way.

Brabec and Schareina were the only riders to set times under 12 minutes and 50 seconds, with the former edging out his teammate by just a second. Schareina probably could’ve beat Brabec had he not have an arm pump about five kilometers in.

Sanders was third and five seconds back of Brabec, followed by a contingent of KTMs that included his own ally Luciano Benavides, Rally2 Prologue winner Michael Docherty, and Red Bull KTM’s Rally2 rider Edgar Canet.

“Got good confidence for the bike with the team moving forward,” said Brabec. “We’re happy and I think we have a good spot for tomorrow to choose from, so let the racing begin.”

Fellow Monster Energy Honda rider Adrian Van Beveren was sixth in RallyGP and eighth overall, going at a more conservative pace as he returns from injury.

Rally3 was the first class on course, with Achraf Zoulati getting the honor of the inaugural starter. He was seventh in class, which was topped by points leader Thomas Zoldos.

A week after winning the Baja Morocco, Benjamin Melot finished 25th in rally2 and 38th overall.

Nasser Al-Attiyah’s quest to repeat as Rallye du Maroc and FIA champion got off to a good start as he topped the Prologue by a comfortable 11 seconds on João Ferreira. Of course, FIA times do not count for their overall but getting a preferable starting spot for Stage 1 is always a good thing.

Jayden Els, a former Road to Dakar winner in South Africa, won for Challenger in his first time in the Taurus T3 Max. BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal SSV victor João Dias was first in his respective category. In his first W2RC stage on four wheels, Kevin Benavides placed fourth in Challenger.

The Prologue was only 19 kilometers long and easy to navigate through with plenty of markings and cultivated fields. Still, hidden hazards were aplenty to keep everyone on their toes.

“They were telling us very slippery tracks with lots of cliffs, and it turned out to be really big, rolling farm fields which was actually really nice, so we got a bit more traction than I expected,” Skyler Howes commented.

Despite being the easiest leg of the six, there were still a few snags. Benavides and Frédéric Chesneau were caught speeding too many times and got points added to their record; the former also had a stone lodged between his wheel and brake disc. Clément Dumais, a Ninja Warrior and World Chase Tag champ, was one of a handful who crashed.

Gert Huzink took a shortcut and went down the wrong path, costing him time and warranting a 45-minute penalty. While it doesn’t affect his overall result, being a truck in the Open class means he’ll be the very last person on course for Stage 1.

Prologue winners

FIA

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
Ultimate	1	200	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Dacia Sandriders	11:56.8
Challenger	19	312	Jayden Els*	BBR Motorsport	12:49.0
SSV	27	403	João Dias*	Santag Racing	13:04.8
Truck	64	600	Martin Macík Jr.*	MM Technology	14:31.5
Experimental Stock	90	500	Ronald Basso*	Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body	15:27.1

FIM

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
RallyGP	1	9	Ricky Brabec	Monster Energy Honda HRC	12:48.3
Rally2	5	22	Michael Docherty	BAS World KTM Racing Team	13:03.7
Rally3	27	183	Thomas Zoldos	Aub’Moto	14:33.3

Open

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
Open Car	1	701	Martin Koloc*	Buggyra ZM Racing	14:22.8
Open SSV	2	724	Omar Benhayoun*	RM Sport	17:02.6
Open Truck	7	751	Jürgen Hellgeth*	Hellgeth Engineering	20:40.1

Featured image credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI / ASO