Wouter de Graaff can usually be found reading a roadbook in the passenger’s seat. He’s still looking at roadbooks at the Morocco Desert Challenge, but on the saddle of a Husqvarna FR 450 Rally.

De Graaff, who ran January’s Dakar Rally as the navigator for Michiel Becx, decided to try out motorcycles for the MDC. Things seem to be going well for him, especially on Tuesday as he was the fastest bike by just 17 seconds over David McBride.

McBride in turn beat Julien Dalbec by 2:29 to regain the overall lead. De Graaff is sitting pretty in third.

After his troubles in Stage 3 that knocked him out of overall contention (though he has submitted an appeal to get hius 25-hour DNF time penalty overturned), Mitchel van den Brink rebounded to win Stage 4.

“It was a truly wonderful day,” he said. “The team worked incredibly hard; the mechanics worked through the entire night. By this morning, the car was ready to go and in perfect working order. The team took preventive measures by replacing the gearbox, the drivetrain, and various other components. The Toyota performed brilliantly today. All credit goes to the MP Motorsport service crew.

“We started in 11th place and had to eat some dust because of that, but everyone moved aside. We overtook everyone and are satisfied with the victory of the day.”

Although a leaf spring broke 180 kilometers in, Kay Huzink nicked his third straight stage win in Truck. The broken spring cost him ten minutes and forced him to drive more conservatively in the final 75 km, but he still held off Darek Łysek by two minutes.

Martin van den Brink had a navigation error at KM 25 and a shock absorber came loose, which he opted to remove at the refuel. He feels the latter is the main cause for him missing out on the stage win as he finished 8:38 behind Huzink.

The van Kasterens enjoyed a double podium in SSV with Janus winning and Jeroen in third.

Stage winners

Bikes

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
Bike	1	121	Wouter de Graaff	Desert Vikings	4:32:42
Veterans Cup	1	121	Wouter de Graaff	Desert Vikings	4:32:42
Ladies Cup	25	119	Beatriz Diez	Club Aventura Touareg	6:00:20

Cars

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T1+	1	301	Mitchel van den Brink	Eurol Rally Sport / MP Rallysport	3:28:40
T1 4×4	3	302	Mike van Eikeren	MP Rallysport	3:49:53
T1 4×2	5	303	Agostino Rizzardi	Countrysideways	3:54:15
T2	19	323	Ernst Amort	RZR Racing	5:09:19

SSVs

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T3	5	203	Gert Huzink	QFF Racing	4:07:37
T4	1	205	Janus van Kasteren	Shiver Offroad	3:50:03
Open	11	232	Josep Rojas	Procurve	31:24

Trucks

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T5	1	501	Kay Huzink	Kuipers-Jongbloed Hybrid / Team de Rooy	4:01:27
T5 Over 15	8	508	Steve Ingels	RR Belgica	6:23:00
T5 Over 20	7	507	Fons Jans	Hamer Rally Team	4:53:20

Overall leaders

Bikes

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
Bike	1	104	David McBride	Vendetta Racing	14:12:17
Veterans Cup	1	104	David McBride	Vendetta Racing	14:12:17
Ladies Cup	24	119	Beatriz Diez	Club Aventura Touareg	22:23:13

Cars

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T1+	1	306	Ronald van Loon	Oase Motorsport	11:%7:50
T1 4×4	7	309	Magdalena Zając	Proxcars TME Rally Team	13:49:23
T1 4×2	3	303	Agostino Rizzardi	Countrysideways	12:14:37
T2	11	323	Ernst Amort	RZR Racing	16:56:44

SSVs

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T3	3	203	Gert Huzink	QFF Racing	12:37:30
T4	1	204	Paulo Rodrigues	Rio Seco Racing	12:18:02
Open	9	232	Josep Rojas	Procurve	14:08:12

Trucks

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T5	1	501	Kay Huzink	Kuipers-Jongbloed Hybrid / Team de Rooy	12:37:13
T5 Over 15	7	508	Steve Ingels	RR Belgica	25:38:46
T5 Over 20	6	507	Fons Jans	Hamer Rally Team	16:54:59

Featured image credit: Matteo Longobardi / RallyCool