Kevin Benavides’s violent crash upended the second stage of the Rally de Marruecos, but Henk Lategan grabbed the win. High speeds, close calls, and a shaken leaderboard marked a tense day in the Moroccan desert.
Kevin Benavides’s rally ended in a flash. At kilometer 196.6, his car flipped hard. The Toyota was wrecked. Both Benavides and his co-driver Lisandro Sisterna walked away, shaken but not hurt. The Argentine, who only recently switched from bikes to cars, climbed out looking stunned. He was frustrated and confused. The crash’s force was clear. Argentine and Spanish-language reports confirmed the Toyota was beyond repair. Benavides and Sisterna had 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. The car rolled three times. The front end was destroyed. Just minutes before, 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 this section was marked as level two out of three in the official route book. The Moroccan terrain is unpredictable. On-site reports backed this up.
After the stage, Lucas Moraes took over the overall lead in the car category, with Henk Lategan just 28 seconds behind and Carlos Sainz in third, trailing by about 2 minutes and 43 seconds.
The rally didn’t slow down. Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings, driving for Toyota Gazoo Repsol, took advantage. They won the stage 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. Lucas Moraes, the overall leader, finished fourth. He now holds a slim 28-second lead over Lategan in the general standings. Independent rally reports say the leaderboard shakeup came from Benavides’s crash and mechanical trouble for other favorites.
On two wheels, Daniel Sanders of Australia dominated. He finished the stage in 3 hours, 35 minutes, and 14 seconds. That was more than three minutes ahead of American Ricky Bravec and Spain’s Edgar Canet. They now sit in the same order in the provisional rankings. Several sources confirm Sanders’s win put him back on top for the stage and boosted his lead in the overall W2RC championship. He already had a narrow points edge before the rally.
Benavides’s car stayed stranded on the course. It was beyond repair. The rest of the field had to slow down and pick their way through the danger zone. Sisterna pointed out the obstacle was marked as a level two in the route book. Even experienced crews can get caught out here. The day brought more drama. Nasser Al-Attiyah ran into serious mechanical problems. Yazeed Al-Rajhi retired. The fight for the top spots got even tighter. Several official race summaries noted the shakeup.
The overall atmosphere of the marathon became even more tense due to the retirements and technical issues among the leaders, with Nasser Al-Attiyah facing major mechanical problems and Yazeed Al-Rajhi dropping out, which led to a significant reshuffle in the general classification.
Penalties added to the chaos. Carlos Sáinz got a five-minute penalty for speeding in a restricted zone. That dropped him to third overall and widened the gap to the leaders. Nani Roma, after his own scare, ended the day sixth. He now sits eighth in the provisional standings.
The next stage will be brutal. It covers 363 kilometers of timed racing and 228 kilometers of liaison. Much of it runs through the tough dunes of Er Rachidia and Merzouga. The pressure is rising. Mistakes will cost dearly. Every move matters now.
Benavides’s crash shows how quickly things can go wrong in desert rallying. The Moroccan landscape is full of hidden traps and shifting ground. 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 is still in flux. The terrain is only getting tougher. The Rally de Marruecos is proving again that speed alone is not enough. Precision and resilience matter. So does the ability to adapt. This stage showed why this rally is a true test. Fortunes can change in seconds. Only the most disciplined survive the desert’s harsh demands.
