For over a decade, the Stock class was little more than a fancy testing ground for Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body. The Toyota corporate-backed outfit was often the only T2 team to show up to the Dakar Rally and other rallies, partly stemming from a lack of manufacturer investment because the production category had little appeal compared to T1, leading to TAB winning Dakar 12 years in a row.

This changed in 2026 with new FIA regulations intended to entice more brands, and Jaguar Land Rover eagerly accepted. With full backing of JLR and a star-studded trio of drivers, Defender Rally dominated January’s Dakar by winning all 12 stages and easily overpowering the Land Cruisers. Since TAB doesn’t race the full World Rally-Raid Championship, Stock instead became the Defenders’ own playground.

TAB rejoined the W2RC for the Rallye du Maroc with a new lineup in Yasir Seaidan and former team driver Christian Lavieille. With Lavieille in the Open class, Seaidan was on his own to challenge the Defenders. For much of the week, the results were more of the same as Defender dominated.

On the fifth and final day, however, Toyota finally broke through.

Even with only four cars in the category, Seaidan never finished outside the top three. Stéphane Peterhansel was too far ahead in the overall for him to catch—going into Saturday, Peterhansel led Seaidan by 58:58—but this meant the leader would take things a little easier for Stage 5. Rokas Baciuška wasn’t in the overall picture because of several penalties, so his goal was to reach the finish and secure the championship (Defender isn’t running the season finale in Abu Dhabi). Sara Price didn’t stand a chance either.

These variables created the perfect opportunity for Seaidan to strike and leave Morocco on a high note.

Peterhansel led early on with Seaidan right on his heels before taking the lead through KM 60. What was then a 38-second gap ballooned to 1:41 by the halfway mark, then increased again to 2:29 by the time they concluded the special. Baciuška was third and 6:17 back, while Price retired.

Seaidan wasn’t the only driver in a new ride to close out the RdM with a stage win. Eryk Goczał, running his first W2RC race in a Ford Raptor, engaged in a dramatic battle with Sébastien Loeb. It was such a tense duel that they set identical times (1:44:14) through the final checkpoint at KM 250.

However, Loeb’s day ended in disaster when his right front wheel came off just a few hundred meters before the finish. Martin Macík Jr. towed him to the end, where he was classified a disappointing 75th overall and 39th in Ultimate for the day.

“Nothing went as planned this week,” Loeb lamented.

Macík led in Truck early on before going the wrong direction at KM 60 and losing three minutes. Mitchel van den Brink seized the opening to pass him and win the stage.

While Stage 5 is the shortest at just 259 kilometers in specials, some couldn’t make it home. Tobias Ebster’s debut for ZXMOTO ended at KM 159 due to a myriad of mechanical problems. Dania Akeel had to retire after smelling something strange and feeling a vibration in her Hilux, which navigator Sébastien Delaunay discovered was because a bearing in the propeller shaft broke off.

After back-to-back stage retirements (power steering failure in Stage 3, belt tensioner problem on Stage 4), Laia Sanz was reassigned from Ultimate to Open for the last day. She topped the stage ahead of Daniel Schröder, a fellow migrant from Challenger.

On the Classic side, Paolo Fellin retired because he was over an hour late to Regularity Test 5-2. Serge Mogno and Luis Robles, both of whom have had a tumultuous week filled with several visits by the stewards, got time penalties for stopping to help Juan Morera during Navigation Test 5-1; fortunately, they finally got a mulligan as said penalties were dropped upon review.

Stage winners

FIA

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Time
Ultimate	1	205	Eryk Goczał	Energylandia Rally Team	3:17:55
Challenger	20	301	Alexandre Pinto	Odyssey Academy by BBR	3:33:12
SSV	22	412	Matthias Walkner	South Racing	3:35:10
Stock	43	505	Yasir Seaidan	Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body	3:47:41
Truck	23	603	Mitchel van den Brink	Eurol Rally Sport Team de Rooy	3:36:35

FIM

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Time
RallyGP	1	9	Ricky Brabec	Monster Energy Honda HRC	1:52:15
Rally2	6	84	Martim Ventura	Monster Energy Honda HRC	1:58:17
Rally3	34	175	Albert Martín	Triumph Spain	2:29:45
Quad	41	180	Antanas Kanopkinas	CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team	2:36:46

Open

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Time
Auto	1	214	Laia Sanz	Ebro Audax Motorsport	1:50:48
SSV	3	722	Ján Hnidka	JSK Racing	2:19:28

Classic

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Points
H2	1	827	Filippo Colnaghi	Tecnosport	20
H3	5	802	Josef Unterholzner	R Team	119
H4	9	805	Davide Facchini	R Team	227

Overall winners

FIA

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Time
Ultimate	1	203	Seth Quintero	Toyota Gazoo Racing	16:34:05
Challenger	15	301	Alexandre Pinto	Odyssey Academy by BBR	18:03:18
SSV	20	412	Matthias Walkner	South Racing	18:35:43
Stock	38	500	Stéphane Peterhansel	Defender Rally	20:53:52
Truck	21	603	Mitchel van den Brink	Eurol Rally Sport Team de Rooy	18:41:04

FIM

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Time
RallyGP	1	73	Edgar Canet	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	15:41:55
Rally2	5	84	Martim Ventura	Monster Energy Honda HRC	15:57:04
Rally3	35	175	Albert Martín	Triumph Spain	20:59:03
Quad	42	180	Antanas Kanopkinas	CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team	22:11:07

Open

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Time
Auto	1	701	Christian Lavieille	Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body	19;57:34
SSV	3	721	Brahim Ettaiek	BE Racing	28:00:15

Classic

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Points
H2	1	832	Ali Oubassidi	Compagnie Saharienne	236
H3	3	802	Josef Unterholzner	R Team	461
H4	9	814	Paolo Fellin	R Team	3,786

Featured image credit: Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body