The inaugural Rallye Sirocco will take place on December 18–23. It is a regularity rally intended to raise funds for 323 students in M’Hamid El Ghizlane and Aït Benhaddou. Only 15 teams will be invited to compete, and part of the 24,000 MAD (€2,400) registration fee will go toward benefiting the students.

“Rallye Sirocco is a nonprofit initiative founded on a shared ambition: bringing people together through a passion for automobiles, cultural discovery, friendship, and solidarity,” reads a statement from the organization. “Beyond the automotive adventure itself, our initiative seeks to strengthen lasting connections between France and Morocco, encourage international cooperation, and demonstrate how motorsport-inspired events can serve a greater social purpose.”

After checking in on the 18th in Marrakesh, the race begins the next day with two regularity sections to Ouarzazate. December 20 won’t have any racing as the rally heads to M’Hamid El Ghizlane. The 21st also has two stages, but covers significantly more ground as it goes through Zagora, Foum El Oued, and Taznakht before finishing in Aït Benhaddou. The 22nd sees a return trip to Marrakesh for the closing ceremony.

In total, the rally will span 1,035 kilometers across four stages.

Rallye Sirocco was started by friends Mohamed Ettoubaji, Khalil Belfqih, and Dounia Christina. They partnered with the Fédération Marocaine des Véhicules Anciens (FMVA), Association Sportive de l’Automobile Club Marocain (ASACM), and Associations of Moroccan Youth in France and Toulouse (AJMF and AJMT) to organize the rally. Its name stems from the sirocco, a type of dry wind that blows from the Sahara, over the Mediterranean, and into southern Europe.

2007 Dakar Rally competitor and FMVA director Abdelouahed Ettoubaji will serve as race director. Mohamed is the technical director, Belfqih oversees communications, and Christina handles public relations. Other race personnel include Mohamed Birouaine (strategy director), Ikram Ettoubaji (deputy rally director and competitor relations), Zayd Lahlou (deputy technical director), Mamoun Hajji Ouafi (deputy route operations), Aziza Rim (competitor relations and humanitarian actions manager), and Saad Snaoui (route operations).

The MG ZS Hybrid+ will serve as the official rally car for entrants as well as the organizers.

The organizers’ manifesto reads:

As we write this, the first Rallye Sirocco has not yet taken place. No finish-line photograph. No old traditions. No favourite stage that everyone remembers differently.

Soon, the spreadsheets will become kilometres. The names on forms will become faces. The calls will become handshakes. The line on a screen will become mountains, villages and dust through a windscreen.

We do not know which stranger will become a friend. Which wrong turn will become a joke. Which moment you will still be talking about ten years from now.

That part belongs to you.

A press conference for the rally will take place on October 16 at Titi Palacio in Paris, with another planned for November in Casablanca.

Route

Day	Start	Finish	Distance	Regularity Sections	Date
1	Marrakesh	Ouarzazate	219 km	2	December 19
2	Ouarzazate	M’Hamid El Ghizlane	252 km	N/A	December 20
3	M’Hamid El Ghizlane	Aït Benhaddou	374 km	2	December 21
4	Aït Benhaddou	Marrakesh	190 km	N/A	December 22