Martim Ventura is mathematically your 2026 World Rally-Raid Champion in the Rally2 class, though he probably won’t celebrate until he reaches the finish in Abu Dhabi.

Ventura dominated the Rallye du Maroc, running top five among all bikes and beating his classmates by over half an hour. Having finished on the podium at all four rounds to date and riding a two-race win streak, he leaves Morocco with 94 points while Toni Mulec is second with 76.

Unlike RallyGP where every race is counted, Rally2 drops the worst finish from a rider’s final points tally. If you run all five W2RC rounds, only four is factored into the championship.

Should Mulec win the season-ending Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and drop his worst race (either Portugal or Morocco, both of which were fifth-place runs that awarded 11 points apiece), he would only have 90 points. He earned 38 for winning the Dakar Rally, which is a marathon race and therefore gives the winner more than the usual 25 points, and got 16 more for placing third at the Desafío Ruta 40.

Meanwhile, Ventura’s third at Dakar and second in Portugal respectively yielded 24 and 20 points. His back-to-back wins in Argentina and Morocco combined for 50 points.

His Honda teammate Bruno Crivilin took the Prologue while Ventura himself made an early mistake and settled for third behind Crivilin and Michael Docherty. As the full race unfolded, however, he quickly asserted himself as the top dog. He beat Docherty by a minute in Stage 1 and 2:38 in Stage 2, then pulled further away by 13 minutes in Stage 3 as Docherty slowed down to focus on navigation.

Ventura’s only snag came in Stage 4 when the roadbook switch wonked out in the morning, preventing him from scrolling through his notes. Docherty took advantage to win the stage, though Ventura was already 29:25 ahead of him with one day to go. The final stage returned to the status quo with Ventura ahead of Neels Theric and Docherty.

“It’s been a really good week and the rhythm was there from the beginning,” Ventura stated. “I know I still have a lot to improve, especially with my navigation. When you start riding faster, everything comes at you quicker and you have to make those navigation decisions even faster, so that’s something I know I need to keep working on.

“But I have to be happy with what we’ve achieved here. We have an incredible team with a real desire to win and I’m surrounded by the people I want by my side. Everyone has worked so hard and this result is a reflection of that.”

Docherty and Ventura’s other Honda colleague Preston Campbell joined the class winner as Rally2 riders in the top ten. Despite a good start and finishing second in Stage 3, Campbell crashed several times the next day and hurt his momentum. Crivilin was sixth in Rally2, struggling to figure out navigation in the desert.

Theric came up five minutes short of the podium. He lost ground early on to a rear shock spring issue in Stage 1, then led Stage 5 early on before the exhaust got smashed on a compression and his Kove lost power.

Benjamin Melot, winner of January’s Dakar in Malle Moto, thought of doing Morocco solo but decided against it. Incidentally, Javi Vega finished right behind him in 20th to win the subcategory.

Gonçalo and Salvador Amaral, brothers who’ve dominated the Rally-Raid Portugal’s Rally3 class, finished 40th and 42nd in their maiden Rally2 start.

Matthew Ransom and Justin Jumet both completed the race, assuring the Kansans would be allowed to race the 2027 Dakar Rally since they needed to finish Morocco to gain the ASO’s approval. Ransom called it a “pretty boring rally”, which was “exactly what I wanted” since he and his bike didn’t experience any problems throughout the week. The road wasn’t as easy for Jumet, but he was still among the last riders to make it home.

2027 Dakar hopeful Bruno Bozzo won the Junior Trophy, while Dakar veteran and the owner of Clay Regazzoni’s 1988 Dakar Tatra Roman Krejčí took the Veteran Trophy. Despite a tough week that included falling multiple times in Stage 2 and a slew of mechanical problems, Lilimay Mansuy secured the Women Trophy.

Eymeric Bource, Alona Ben Natan, and Alessandro Rigoni weren’t classified since they exceeded the 60-hour total time limit.

27 riders retired, including big names like Tobias Ebster and Jatin Jain due to mechanical failures and a crash, respectively. Ebster was part of ZXMOTO’s rally debut. Shlok Ghorpade’s first W2RC start for Hero ended after four stages when the bike caught fire. Noa Sainct withdrew due to a hand injury.

Lucas Secco took the dubious award of the strangest DNF. After retiring from Stage 3, he loaded his bike onto the back of a sweeper truck. Said truck tried to leave the dunes, only to roll in the process and crush his Kove beyond repair.

“I didn’t expect to finish the rally like this,” Secco quipped. “It was short but intense.”

Results

Finish	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	5	84	Martim Ventura	Monster Energy Honda HRC	15:57:04	Leader
2	9	14	Michael Docherty	Hero MotoSports	16:27:49	+ 30:45
3	10	85	Preston Campbell	Monster Energy Honda HRC	16:35:43	+ 38:39
4	11	66	Neels Theric	Kove Factory Racing	16:40:30	+ 43:26
5	12	16	Toni Mulec	BAS World KTM Racing Team	16:47:39	+ 50:35
6	13	69	Bruno Crivilin	Monster Energy Honda HRC	16:56:18	+ 59:14
7	14	88	Bruno Bozzo	Pedregà Team	16:58:22	+ 1:01:18
8	16	41	Ruy Barbosa	HT Rally Raid	17:04:32	+ 1:07:28
9	17	19	Paolo Lucci	BAS World KTM Racing Team	17:11:25	+ 1:14:21
10	18	24	Alfredo Pellicer	Xraids Experience	17:18:06	+ 1:21:02
11	19	58	Guillaume Rosier	RS Concept	17:29:14	+ 1:32:10
12	20	30	Mathieu Dovèze	BAS World KTM Racing Team	17:36:45	+ 1:39:41
13	21	18	Benjamín Herrera	Xraids Experience	17:43:18	+ 1:46:14
14	23	21	Jean-Loup Lepan	DUUST Rally Team	17:49:51	+ 1:52:47
15	24	26	Konrad Dąbrowski	DUUST Rally Team	18:09:08	+ 2:12:04
16	25	75	Sebastian Pakciarz	BAS World KTM Racing Team	18:20:08	+ 2:23:04
17	26	107	Lars van Berkel	BAS World KTM Racing Team	18:24:32	+ 2:27:28
18	27	20	Harith Noah	Sherco TVS Rally Factory	18:38:14	+ 2:41:10
19	28	39	Benjamin Melot	Esprit KTM	19:01:44	+ 3:04:40
20	29	99	Javi Vega †	Pont Grup	19:16:31	+ 3:19:27
21	30	148	Tomás de Gavardo	BAS World KTM Racing Team	19:25:59	+ 3:28:55
22	31	95	Baltazar Frezze Pissoni	Xraids Experience	20:01:43	+ 4:04:39
23	32	136	Berend de Ruiter	HT Rally Raid	20:42:33	+ 4:45:29
24	33	54	Roman Krejčí	Bo!Beton Racing	20:50:36	+ 4:53:32
25	34	49	Juan Santiago Rostan	Xraids Experience	20:57:55	+ 5:00:51
26	36	36	David Pabiška	SP Moto Bohemia Racing Team	21:12:15	+ 5:15:11
27	37	89	Taj Karo	Joyride Race Service	21:23:57	+ 5:26:53
28	38	135	Guillaume Pouget †	GP Sandstorm Racing Team	21:25:40	+ 5:28:36
29	39	130	Iñigo Zardoya	Peñita Factory Team	21:34:40	+ 5:37:36
30	40	137	Louis Trelluyer	Challenger Racing Team	21:51:28	+ 5:54:24
31	41	87	Valentin Sertilhanges †	Horizon Moto 95	22:02:53	+ 6:05:49
32	43	91	Scott Heygate	HT Rally Raid	22:13:41	+ 6:16:37
33	44	33	Damien Gueno	Ydeo Compétition	22:30:59	+ 6:33:55
34	46	45	Sunier	Kove Factory Racing	22:59:02	+ 7:01:58
35	47	94	Nicolas Horeaux	Nomade Racing	23:07:53	+ 7:10:49
36	48	121	Jules Fourgeaud	Challenger Racing Team	23:12:06	+ 7:15:02
37	49	116	Pedro Pinheiro	Old Friends Rally Team	23:14:17	+ 7:17:13
38	50	108	Richard Fliter	BAS World KTM Racing Team	23:17:31	+ 7:20:27
39	51	63	Guillaume Hucher	RS Concept	23:22:07	+ 7:25:03
40	52	67	Gonçalo Amaral	Wingmotor Honda	23:32:51	+ 7:35:47
41	53	47	Tomasz Orwat	DUUST Rally Team	23:34:11	+ 7:37:07
42	54	64	Salvador Amaral	Wingmotor Honda	23:37:57	+ 7:40:53
43	55	127	Filippo Perletti	MotoClub Lago d’Iseo	23:50:49	+ 7:53:45
44	56	134	Stéphane Brunaud †	Stéphane Brunaud	23:52:53	+ 7:55:49
45	57	31	Slawomir Sypien	DUUST Rally Team	23:56:51	+ 7:59:47
46	58	109	Marek Halamunda	HT Rally Raid	23:59:30	+ 8:02:26
47	59	72	Jiří Brož	BAS World KTM Racing Team	24:05:39	+ 8:08:35
48	60	115	Álvaro Pintado	Peñita Factory Team	24:46:32	+ 8:49:28
49	62	104	Anthony Bonello	Nomadik and Co.	24:54:35	+ 8:57:31
50	63	37	Antonio Ubis	Club Aventura Touareg	24:55:05	+ 8:58:01
51	64	93	Guillaume Martin	Nomade Racing	24:56:37	+ 8:59:33
52	66	118	Matthew Ransom	Challenger Racing Team	25:06:03	+ 9:08:59
53	68	168	Atte Kukkonen	Arctic Foxes	25:42:14	+ 9:45:10
54	69	151	Gurndin Peter	Pedregà Team	25:49:15	+ 9:52:11
55	70	123	Antonio Sanchez	Ottomocion	26:26:15	+ 10:29:11
56	72	74	Mathieu Feuvrier	Mathieu Feuvrier	26:49:14	+ 10:52:10
57	73	70	Francisco Arredondo	BAS World KTM Racing Team	27:15:16	+ 11:18:12
58	74	51	Joan Viñals	Joyride Race Service	27:32:00	+ 11:34:56
59	75	79	Milan Brabec	Bra-tra	27:33:01	+ 11:35:57
60	76	53	Ricardo Iglesias	Pedregà Team	27:33:52	+ 11:36:48
61	77	128	Mickael Tendron	Challenger Racing Team	27:46:38	+ 11:49:34
62	78	83	Wilfried Dagommer	RS Concept	28:01:19	+ 12:04:15
63	79	132	Federico Marretta †	Pedregà Team	28:01:57	+ 12:04:53
64	80	122	Iñigo Moreno	Peñita Factory Team	28:42:16	+ 12:45:12
65	81	105	Philippe Dasse	Piboules Racing Rally Assistance Desert Only	29:19:41	+ 13:22:37
66	82	140	Lilimay Mansuy	L3R	29:50:15	+ 13:53:11
67	83	131	Matteo Zoppas	Pedregà Team	30:02:03	+ 14:04:59
68	84	124	Mohamed Oulad Ali	Mohamed Oulad Ali	30:23:35	+ 14:26:31
69	85	65	August Castellà	Pedregà Team	32:09:50	+ 16:12:46
70	86	147	Anatolii Haval	BAS World KTM Racing Team	33:14:43	+ 17:17:39
71	87	117	Tiago Santos	Tiago Santos #76	33:27:18	+ 17:30:14
72	89	149	Raffaella Cabini	RS Moto	33:40:09	+ 17:43:05
73	90	150	Omar Caraballo	HT Rally Raid	33:58:13	+ 18:01:09
74	91	152	Sara Jugla	Belettes du Desert	35:00:13	+ 19:03:09
75	92	129	Patrick Arnoult	Patrick Arnoult	39:37:39	+ 23:40:35
76	93	114	Justin Jumet	Challenger Racing Team	39:38:56	+ 23:41:52
77	94	126	Jürgen van Rompaey	Soul & Nature	40:52:11	+ 24:55:07
78	95	101	Gines Belzunces	Club Aventura Touareg	54:04:33	+ 38:07:29
79	96	92	Alberto Greppi Cappa †	Alberto Greppi Cappa	54:58:41	+ 39:01:37
80	97	133	Juan Jesus Sánchez	Ottomocion	58:16:28	+ 42:19:24
81	98	120	Urko Garmendia	Peñita Factory Team	59:06:11	+ 43:09:07
NC	NC	76	Alessandro Rigoni	Alessandro Rigoni	NC	N/A
NC	NC	139	Alona Ben Natan	Joyride Race Service	NC	N/A
NC	NC	145	Eymeric Bource	Piboules Racing Rally Assistance Desert Only	NC	N/A
DNF	DNF	22	Shlok Ghorpade	Hero MotoSports	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	27	Martí Escofet	Joyride Race Service	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	32	Noa Sainct	Nomade Racing	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	38	Mufti Muis Karim	RS Moto	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	40	Arnau Mateu	Pedregà Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	43	Luciano Gomes	Gomes Rally	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	50	Fabian von Thüngen	Xraids Experience	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	52	Luca Corradini †	Budino Racing	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	55	Guillaume Rosier	RS Concept	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	60	Jarno D’Orsogna	RS Moto	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	61	Libor Pletka	Cajdašrot Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	78	Arnau Lledó	Pedregà Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	80	Nicola Raspa	Team RoadAB	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	82	Jatin Jain †	Desert Storm	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	90	Renaud Respaud	Evolution Sport Moto	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	96	Tobias Ebster	ZXMOTO Joyride Factory Rally Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	102	David Brock	Joyride Race Service	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	103	Adrian Peñarrubia	Ottomocion	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	110	Antonio Posati	Antonio Posati	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	112	Lucas Secco	Challenger Racing Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	119	Ali Elhaj	Ali Elhaj	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	141	Philippe Peillon	Piboules Racing Rally Assistance Desert Only	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	143	François-Xavier Maillard	RS Concept	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	144	Christopher King	HT Rally Raid	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	146	Ben Howard	Challenger Racing Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	153	Mohammed Al-Muaikil †	Desert Storm	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	171	Jake Vainio	Arctic Foxes	DNF	N/A

Stage winners

Stage	Overall	Rider	Time
Prologue	5	Bruno Crivilin	11:30.1
Stage 1	5	Martim Ventura	2:42:05
Stage 2	4	Martim Ventura	3:39:06
Stage 3	5	Martim Ventura	4:00:58
Stage 4	6	Michael Docherty	3:22:56
Stage 5	6	Martim Ventura	1:58:17

Featured image credit: Honda Racing Corporation