Stage 1 of the Rallye du Maroc could’ve gone anyone’s way in FIA. The top seven cars were all separated by less than two minutes, with Sébastien Loeb coming out on top by just 27 secodns.

On the box score, Loeb dominated Monday’s stage as he was the fastest car through nearly every checkpoint. However, his adversaries were right behind him. Lucas Moraes ran right behind Loeb before Mattias Ekström picked up just enough steam to pip him for second.

Ekström was 27 seconds behind Loeb followed by Moraes (29 seconds), Nani Roma (44 seconds), Henk Lategan (1:16), Joao Ferreira (1:49), and Carlos Sainz (1:55). Saood Variawa, who placed eighth for the day, was over three minutes back.

While not an attrition-filled affair, many cars had a tough going as the stage’s terrain changed rhythm from hard and slow to fast and stony. Most were fairly benign like Laia Sanz getting lost in the dust and going the wrong way.

Loeb’s teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah, who won the Prologue on Sunday, suffered steering arm damage when he hit a small ditch at low speed. Lucas Del Rio crashed into a ditch that cost him an hour to fix, then finished without brakes. Eryk Goczał had issues with his accelerator not bringing his Hilux up to full speed even when he pressed it “all the way down”.

Nathan Hayashi’s Ford Bronco Raptor had a fuel system issue that forced him to a stop until his team could arrive to help.

In SSV, it seemed like being in first was a curse. Kyle Chaney was leading in SSV until the A-arm broke, dropping him to 14th in class for the day. Kevin Benavides also spent time at the front until vehicle problems struck and took him out of the running.

Monday was a rough day for both Benavides as Luciano crashed out in bikes, preventing him from joining his Red Bull KTM teammates Daniel Sanders and Edgar Canet’s 1–2 finish.

“We started at the top of the category, then a steep slope played a trick on us along with several mechanical issues, and a very long day without giving up,” Kevin explained. “Rally is like that: you often don’t find an answer. My brother crashed, and I wish him a speedy recovery.

“It wasn’t the best day for the Benavides brothers, but we’ll come back stronger.”

Fellow Can-Am stable of the Camí brothers lost their windshield and passenger’s side door, though they managed to get the latter back eventually. SSV points leader Alexandre Pinto initially won the stage but was penalized 40 seconds for speeding, which gave João Dias the victory.

Aliyyah Koloc’s wishbone broke just 30 kilometers from the finish, so her father Martin stopped to help. With the faster cars in trouble, Marian Andreev’s Can-Am Maverick was the top Open entry for Monday.

Gert Huzink lost a left rear wheel, preventing him from completing the stage. Besides a flat, cousin Kay had to meet with the stewards for two reasons: he discovered his truck’s was going a top speed of 125 km/h despite everyone else going the permitted 135, and he was held for 20 minutes in neutralization while slower cars could keep going. The FIA eventually restored Kay’s lost time.

Mathieu Dovèze retired after crashing at KM 30 and dislocating his left shoulder.

In his maiden W2RC race, Noa Sainct won the stage for Rally3.

Stage 1 winners

FIA

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
Ultimate	1	219	Sébastien Loeb	Dacia Sandriders	2:49:43
Challenger	24	305	Yasir Seaidan	Race World / MMP Compétition	3:09:46
SSV	30	403	João Dias*	Santag Racing	3:15:40
Truck	43	600	Martin Macík Jr.*	MM Technology	3:22:41
Experimental Stock	64	501	Akira Miura*	Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body	3:35:30

FIM

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
RallyGP	1	4	Daniel Sanders	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	3:04:37
Rally2	2	73	Edgar Canet	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	3:06:01
Rally3	33	184	Noa Sainct	Nomade Racing	3:37:37

Open

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
Open Car	2	700	Aliyyah Koloc*	Buggyra ZM Racing	4:56:02
Open SSV	1	721	Marian Andreev*	M&M Kamikaze Team	4:56:02
Open Truck	4	751	Jürgen Hellgeth*	Hellgeth Engineering	5:31:50

Leaders after Stage 1

Prologue results are not included in FIA times, so Stage 1 winners are their overall leaders.

FIM

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
RallyGP	1	4	Daniel Sanders	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	3:17:30
Rally2	2	73	Edgar Canet	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	3:19:05
Rally3	33	184	Noa Sainct	Nomade Racing	3:52:18

Featured image credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI / ASO