Ali Oubassidi plans to compete at the Dakar Rally for the first time in 2026. Until then, he’s thriving on his home turf as he won the Rallye du Maroc in the Open category for the second year in a row.

The Rallye du Maroc’s Open class is predominantly for teams whose vehicles don’t comply with current FIA regulations. Oubassidi, a Merzouga resident who runs a local hotel and off-road tour company, took part with his trusty Can-Am Maverick X3.

Unlike his dominance in 2024 where he won four of five stages, Oubassidi was only the fastest once in Stage 2 because everyone retired except for him. A rash of mechanical issues slowed him down, but he never retired from any of the days and survived enough to top the class.

Marian Andreev, runner-up in SSV, was over 11 hours back due to attrition ahead of Omar Benhayoun.

“It was a tough rally full of challenges in addition to the daily mechanical problems our car suffered from,” Oubassidi stated. “But our determination and resolve to succeed and raise the Moroccan flag were stronger. We thank everyone who supported us throughout the race.”

Martin Koloc was second overall, over six hours behind Oubassidi. He and his daughter Aliyyah began the race as the only Open Cars, but were joined by Nathan Hayashi along the way.

The Kolocs opted for Open rather than FIA since they were using the race to test new parts on the Red-Lined REVOs for the 2026 Dakar. Aliyyah experienced various technical issues like a broken wishbone in the first stage, but otherwise drove alongside her father.

“Some didn’t work as we hoped, but that’s exactly why we’re here,” said Martin. “The team’s been incredible. They hardly slept for ten days. I’m truly grateful to everyone.

“The result and strategy of the team come first. The family is one layer underneath. We are tuning up the team as a whole.”

Hayashi was originally in the Ultimate class with his FIA-eligible Ford Bronco Raptor, with which he plans to run the 2026 Dakar. However, problems with the fuel system (along with crash damage) during the first leg forced him out of Stages 2 and 3. The double DNFs prevented Hayashi from continuing the race as an FIA car, but organizers allowed him to do so in Open. João Dias had a similar arrangement in SSV.

Fortunately for Hayashi, the Bronco held up over the final two days in Open.

Jürgen Hellgeth was the only Open Truck, finishing fourth overall. He drove his Unimog U4030, with which he won the Truck Small class at the Rallye Breslau in June.

Results

Auto

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	2	701	Martin Koloc*	Mirko Brun	Buggyra ZM Racing	37:23:02	Leader
2	5	700	Aliyyah Koloc*	Sébastien Delaunay	Buggyra ZM Racing	73:38:56	+ 36:15:54
3	11	704	Nathan Hayashi*	Shane Hairsine	The Gear Shop Technical Motorsport Team	145:26:03	+ 108:03:01

SSV

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	1	722	Ali Oubassidi*	Hanane Amraoui	Africa Rallye Team	30:41:19	Leader
2	3	721	Marian Andreev*	Marius Pop	M&M Kamikaze Team	41:47:05	+ 11:05:46
3	6	724	Omar Benhayoun*	Nicolas Ferreira	RM Sport	79:23:20	+ 48:42:01
4	7	728	Pedro Caparrós	Abel Montoya	Pedregà Team	84:56:18	+ 54:14:59
5	8	723	Enrique Martinez	Javier Martinez	Xurro’s Team	106:30:00	+ 75:48:41
6	9	725	Benoît Delmas*	Firdaouss Al-Fannane	Objectif Maroc MMP	122:15:27	+ 91:34:08
7	10	726	João Dias*	Nuno Morais	Santag Racing	132:05:40	+ 101:24:21
8	12	727	Juan Manuel Mañá*	Giovanna di Blasi	Automode	145:28:16	+ 114:46:57

Truck

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	4	751	Jürgen Hellgeth*	Andreas Hellgeth	Hellgeth Engineering	6:41:23	Leader

Stage winners

Stage	Overall	Car	Time	Overall	SSV	Time	Overall	Truck	Time
Prologue	1	Martin Koloc*	14:22.8	2	Omar Benhayoun*	17:02.6	7	Jürgen Hellgeth*	20:40.1
Stage 1	2	Aliyyah Koloc*	5:02:23	1	Marian Andreev*	4:56:02	4	Jürgen Hellgeth*	5:31:50
Stage 2	DNF	No Finishers	DNF	1	Ali Oubassidi*	6:28:19	DNF	No Finishers	DNF
Stage 3	1	Martin Koloc*	4:59:48	2	Marian Andreev*	7:12:43	DNF	No Finishers	DNF
Stage 4	1	Martin Koloc*	3:28:40	2	Juan Manuel Mañá*	3:32:48	6	Jürgen Hellgeth*	5:33:07
Stage 5	1	Aliyyah Koloc*	2:36:33	3	Juan Manuel Mañá*	2:47:04	8	Jürgen Hellgeth*	4:36:26

Featured image credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI / ASO