2023 Rallye du Maroc Stage Four
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Toby Price placed third on the fourth and penultimate stage of the Rallye du Maroc.
With one stage left to race, the Australian leads the overall standings with an advantage of close to six-minutes.
The stage four win went to Luciano Benavides on his Husqvarna ahead of Honda’s Jose Cornejo.
Day four of the Rallye du Maroc covered 422 kilometres, including a lengthy timed special of 343 kilometres. Billed by the organisers as one of the most beautiful yet difficult of the event, the stage didn’t disappoint, delivering a mixture of camel grass and fast, rocky sections, before finishing in the dunes of Merzouga.
Giving his all as always, Toby Price was the second rider to enter today’s long, 343-kilometre timed special, and immediately set about chasing down the rider ahead. Navigating well through the varied and demanding terrain, Toby was able to maintain a strong pace from the front, making the minimum of errors and in turn, earning close to four-minutes of bonus time for opening the stage.
Bringing his KTM 450 RALLY safely home in third place, Price increased his lead in the provisional overall standings to five minutes and 56 seconds.
Although Price will be aiming to push hard over the looped stage and carry his advantage to the finish line, with times so tight at the top of the standings, the fight for the FIM World Rally-Raid Championship title looks set to go down to the very final kilometer of the stage.
Toby Price – Leader/Stage P3
“It was definitely a long day out there today. I had a good day on the whole, I did make a couple of little navigation errors, but was able to fix them pretty quickly and didn’t lose too much time. It’s the last day tomorrow and things in the championship fight are getting really close. It looks like my issue in Argentina might come back to haunt me. All I can do here in Morocco is keep on fighting and let the race come to me. One day left, so I’m all in!”
With the world title in the balance, Benavides knew he had to take maximum advantage of his sixth-place starting position on today’s special and try to make up as much time on the leaders as possible. Fastest to the first checkpoint by over one minute, Luciano continued to attack the demanding stage, increasing his advantage to the finish. Even when bonus time was awarded to those opening the stage, the FR 450 Rally racer came out on top with a one minute and 18-second margin of victory.
Luciano Benavides – Stage 4 Winner
“Today has been intense from start to finish. I knew I had a good start position, but it wasn’t going to be easy to make up time on the guys ahead who were earning bonus time. I just kept my head down and did my best all the way through the special, especially in the final kilometres through the dunes. Tomorrow is the final day of the rally – the final day of the season in fact – and things are so close at the top of the standings. All I can do is give everything on the last stage. Whether I win or not, I know I will have tried my best.”
With three Honda CRF 450 Rally machines fighting in the GP class, Nacho collected his third podium so far and is climbing the overall standings – where he sits now in 6th position. Pablo Quintanilla was fourth today and has the same classification in the overall standings, while Adrien Van Beveren reached Merzouga in 8th place and conquered one step to 7th in the overall standings.
José Ignacio Cornejo – Stage P2
“I am happy to finish Stage 4, it was a long one that mixed every kind of terrain. At the beginning it was really fast, but then after refueling it was more technical with more dune navigation. I had a good feeling with my Honda CRF 450 Rally and I am really enjoy racing here in Morocco. We are improving day by day so let’s see how it goes until the end.”
With tomorrow’s fifth stage measuring a shorter 152 kilometers, the final timed special of this year’s event represents a relative sprint finish to the rally.
2023 Rallye du Maroc Stage Four Results
- Luciano Benavides (ARG), Husqvarna, 3:35:12
- Jose Ignacio Cornejo (CHL), Honda, 3:36:30 +1:18
- Toby Price (AUS), KTM, 3:37:36 +2:24
- Pablo Quintanilla (CHL), Honda, 3:38:29 +3:17
- Tosha Schareina (ESP), Honda, 3:38:38 +3:26
2023 Rallye du Maroc Stage Four Standings
- Toby Price (AUS), KTM, 14:02:38
- Ross Branch (BWA), Hero, 14:08:34 +5:56
- Luciano Benavides (ARG), Husqvarna, 14:09:02 +6:24
- Pablo Quintanilla (CHL), Honda, 14:10:38 +8:00
- Tosha Schareina (ESP), Honda, 14:12:32 +9:54
