The Morocco Desert Challenge can’t seem to catch a break. Hey, we said that yesterday too!

Friday’s stage was supposed to be the longest at 493 kilometers, but got shortened to just 144 km because of heavy rain at the final bivouac in Bouarfa. At least it wasn’t due to political tensions prompting a no-fly zone like the previous two days.

“A large portion of the special was neutralized. We managed to gain a few minutes in the few dunes. After that, it was essentially full throttle for everyone,” Mitchel van den Brink remarked.

With van den Brink unable to win the overall despite his stage victories, the former is instead Ronald van Loon’s to lose. Agostino Rizzardi now sits second but 11:14 back, meaning van Loon would have to fumble the final 187-km special hard for Rizzardi to leapfrog him.

Janus van Kasteren now holds the SSV overall after passing Paulo Rodrigues. Although he held the top spot for much of the rally, Rodrigues finished a disappointing 36th on Friday after losing an hour because the bolt connecting the control arm to the steering column got jammed. As a result, van Kasteren leads Rodrigues by 45:27.

Van Kasteren’s teammate Michiel Becx is still holding down the fort in T3, meaning a Shiver Offroad double overall win is within reach.

Raf van der Steen also lost half an hour after an electronics issue caused his car to stall. Despite tricky navigation, Magdalena Zając remains the T1 4×4 leader over him.

“This stage went by so fast that barely anything had a chance to happen,” Zając remarked.

Stage winners

Bikes

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
Bike	1	101	Joris Van Dyck	ASAP Rally Racing	1:39:12
Veterans Cup	4	104	David McBride	Vendetta Racing	1:44:05
Ladies Cup	23	119	Beatriz Diez	Club Aventura Touareg	2:38:58

Cars

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T1+	1	301	Mitchel van den Brink	Eurol Rally Sport / MP Rallysport	1:15:27
T1 4×4	12	310	Vincent Vroninks	Desert Lions Rally Team	1:32:52
T1 4×2	2	303	Agostino Rizzardi	Countrysideways	1:19:54
T2	18	323	Ernst Amort	RZR Racing	2:09:18

SSVs

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T3	2	206	Willem Meijer	QFF Racing	1:26:16
T4	1	205	Janus van Kasteren	Shiver Offroad	1:26:07
Open	17	232	Josep Rojas	Procurve	1:40:44
Open Light	34	246	Roland Perret	Perret Family	2:11:14

Trucks

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T5	1	501	Kay Huzink	Kuipers-Jongbloed Hybrid / Team de Rooy	1:24:47
T5 Over 15	8	508	Steve Ingels	RR Belgica	2:29:01
T5 Over 20	7	507	Fons Jans	Hamer Rally Team	2:01:08

Overall leaders

Bikes

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
Bike	1	105	Julien Dalbec	Rallye 583	22:33:03
Veterans Cup	2	104	David McBride	Vendetta Racing	22:56:02
Ladies Cup	21	119	Beatriz Diez	Club Aventura Touareg	34:14:46

Cars

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T1+	1	306	Ronald van Loon	Oase Motorsport	21:40:38
T1 4×4	5	309	Magdalena Zając	Proxcars TME Rally Team	24:57:35
T1 4×2	2	303	Agostino Rizzardi	Countrysideways	21:51:52
T2	12	323	Ernst Amort	RZR Racing	30:45:43

SSVs

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T3	4	208	Michiel Becx	Shiver Offroad	24:17:42
T4	1	205	Janus van Kasteren	Shiver Offroad	22:34:00
Open	9	232	Josep Rojas	Procurve	25:53:25
Open Light	32	246	Roland Perret	Perret Family	82:58:29

Trucks

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T5	1	501	Kay Huzink	Kuipers-Jongbloed Hybrid / Team de Rooy	22:34:42
T5 Over 15	8	508	Steve Ingels	RR Belgica	44:08:50
T5 Over 20	6	507	Fons Jans	Hamer Rally Team	30:42:29

Featured image credit: Off-Road Racing Team Robert Ranst