Kevin Benavides crashed at kilometer 196.6 during the second stage of the Rally de Marruecos, ending his rally as Henk Lategan took the stage win. Benavides’s car flipped three times and was wrecked. He and his co-driver Lisandro Sisterna walked away shaken but unhurt.
The Argentine, who only recently switched from bikes to cars, climbed out looking stunned and frustrated, seemingly confused. Argentine and Spanish-language reports confirmed the Toyota was beyond repair, forcing Benavides and Sisterna to withdraw. They were lucky to escape injury.
The accident happened on a stretch known for its 'dubbies', rough, rolling earth. Benavides hit it too fast. Just minutes earlier, Joan 'Nani' Roma and Carlos Sáinz had close calls at the same spot. Both kept their Fords under control, but it was a near miss. Sisterna later said the section was marked as level two out of three in the official route book. The Moroccan terrain is unpredictable, a point backed up by on-site reports.
Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings, driving for Toyota Gazoo Repsol, capitalized on the disrupted stage and won in 3 hours, 28 minutes and 34 seconds. The Polish pair Goczal and Gospodarcyck finished 41 seconds behind. Sáinz and Oliveras came third, just over a minute back, while Lucas Moraes, the overall leader, finished fourth. Moraes held a 28-second lead over Lategan in the general standings, with Sáinz third, about 2 minutes and 43 seconds behind. Independent rally reports linked the leaderboard shakeup to Benavides’s crash and mechanical trouble for other favorites.
On two wheels, Australia’s Daniel Sanders dominated, finishing in 3 hours, 35 minutes and 14 seconds, more than three minutes ahead of American Ricky Bravec, with Spain’s Edgar Canet next. The same order held in the provisional rankings. Sanders’s win put him back on top for the stage and boosted his lead in the overall W2RC championship. He had already held a narrow points edge before the rally.
Benavides’s car remained stranded on the course and beyond repair. The rest of the field had to slow down and pick its way through the danger zone. Sisterna pointed out that the obstacle was marked as level two in the route book. Even experienced crews can get caught out there. Nasser Al-Attiyah ran into serious mechanical problems, while Yazeed Al-Rajhi retired, tightening the fight for the top spots. Several official race summaries noted the shakeup.
Penalties added to the chaos. Carlos Sáinz received a five-minute penalty for speeding in a restricted zone, dropping him to third overall and widening the gap to the leaders. Nani Roma, after his own scare, ended the day sixth and sat eighth in the provisional standings.
The next stage will cover 363 kilometers of timed racing and 228 kilometers of liaison, much of it through the tough dunes of Er Rachidia and Merzouga. The pressure is rising, and mistakes will cost dearly.
Benavides’s crash shows how quickly things can go wrong in desert rallying. The Moroccan field is full of hidden traps and shifting ground, and even the best drivers can get caught out. Past cases reported by rally media show how a single misjudgment can turn a race upside down.
The leaderboard remains in flux, and the terrain is only getting tougher. The Rally de Marruecos is proving that crews need precision and ability to recover to adapt, even at speed. Fortunes can change in seconds in the desert.
