2026 Morocco Desert Challenge: Van den Brink off and running in Stage 1, others off and stopped

April 11, 2026

Mitchel van den Brink seems to be comfortable in his new Toyota Hilux already.

Rather than going for a fourth consecutive SSV win, he opted to enter the Morocco Desert Challenge in the T1+ class. Although it’s his first time competing in the premier rally category, he looked like a natural in Saturday’s first stage as he led all drivers. His time of 36:14 was over two and a half minutes quicker than runner-up and fellow Hilux driver Vincent Thijs.

MP Rallysport teammate Mike van Eikeren was third overall and tops in T1 4×4, the MDC’s equivalent to the FIA’s T1.1 subclass.

“We started off calm and then we attacked the final section,” said van den Brink. “We didn’t encounter any major issues, so we’re very satisfied with today’s result.”

Being the first stage and essentially a prologue meant Saturday should be the easiest one. That’s why the SS was only 75 kilometers long (the liaison was over twice as long).

However, the course from Ouarzazate to the first bivouac in Foum Zguid turned out to be far more treacherous than expected. Multiple drivers got stuck on the side of the road and had to be rescued, including the Citroën 2CV of Frank Elsermans. André Thewessen ended the day on a sweeper truck’s flatbed after a mechanical issue struck his Can-Am, continuing his string of bad luck at the MDC after losing a shock in Stage 1 of 2025.

Magdalena Zając struggled with punctures that dropped her to fifth for 4×4.

“Nobody ask me about first impressions or prologues,” Zając quipped. “Let’s forget the prologue.”

Stage winners

Bikes

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
Bike	1	105	Julien Dalbec	Rallye 583	49:51
Veterans Cup	3	121	Wouter de Graaff	Desert Vikings	52:36
Ladies Cup	12	125	Alona Ben Natan	Alona Ben Natan	1:00:40

Cars

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T1+	1	301	Mitchel van den Brink	Eurol Rally Sport / MP Rallysport	36:14
T1 4×4	3	302	Mike van Eikeren	MP Rallysport	40:22
T1 4×2	5	311	Hugues Moilet	Off Road Concept	41:35
T2	16	323	Ernst Amort	RZR Racing	54:13

SSVs

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T3	3	206	Willem Meijer	QFF Racing	41:36
T4	1	204	Paulo Rodrigues	Rio Seco Racing	40:00
Open	9	232	Josep Rojas	Procurve	46:57
Open Light	40	246	Roland Perret	Perret Family	3:20:00