Taking place on October 3/9, the 2018 Morocco Rally is a 1,907km adventure in the Saharan Desert. Organised by highly-experienced racer David Castera, the event will be a true challenge for all competitors. Yamaha will be very well represented in the SSV category of the event, with an impressive total of eight Yamaha powered crews looking for success in the class.
Yamaha Motor Europe President Eric de Seynes together with 13-time Dakar Rally winner Stéphane Peterhansel will race two Yamaha YXZ1000R machines at the 2018 Morocco Rally. With highly-experienced rally competitor Camelia Liparoti assuming the role of co-driver for Eric de Seynes, rally legend Stéphane Peterhansel will have his wife and seven-time Dakar Rally finisher Andrea Mayer as his co-driver for this event in Africa.
Demonstrating his passion for motorsports with his participation in the Sardinia Rally in both 2016 and 2017, Eric de Seynes is looking forward to racing Yamaha’s side-by-side vehicle in the dunes of the Sahara Desert.
Selecting Yamaha’s YXZ1000R for their participation at the event, Stéphane Peterhansel and Andrea Mayer have their eyes set on topping the SSV class. The two Yamaha ambassadors will use the five-stage rally in Africa as a training event in preparation for the Dakar Rally.
Alongside the two Yamaha machines driven by Eric de Seynes and Stéphane Peterhansel, there will be six more YXZ1000R powered crews at the week-long event in Morocco. Two of them will participate in the T3 car category.
The 2018 Morocco Rally kicks off with a short 10km Prologue in Fes on Thursday afternoon. In total, the race features 1,225km of timed specials.
Stéphane Peterhansel – Dakar Rally legend
“The Morocco Rally is like a small Dakar and I am really looking forward to racing it on the Yamaha SXS vehicle. With my wife, we started racing Bajas with the YXZ1000R three years ago and this will be our first multi-stage rally with navigation. We want someday to race the Dakar in a car together and I believe the Morocco Rally will be good training for us. The Yamaha SXS vehicle is a really fun machine. I enjoy racing it a lot and to me it feels like a small rally car. We want to gain more experience racing together and make the most of every stage. If it all goes well, I believe we are in a good position to fight for the victory in the SSV class.”
Morocco Rally 2018 – Race Overview
Prologue | Oct 4 | Fes to Fes | SS: 10km | Total: 47km
Stage 1 | Oct 5 | Fes to Erfoud | SS1: 99km, SS2: 68km | Total: 487km
Stage 2 | Oct 6 | Erfoud to Erfoud | SS: 281km | Total: 317km
Stage 3 | Oct 7 | Erfoud to Erfoud | SS: 275km | Total: 280km
Stage 4 | Oct 8 | Erfoud to Erfoud | SS: 294km | Total: 317km
Stage 5 | Oct 9 | Erfoud to Fes | SS1: 128km, SS2: 70km | Total: 457km
Total | SS: 1,225km | Total: 1,907km
Eric de Seynes – Yamaha Motor Europe President