Stage 2 victory for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing W2RC in Morocco

• Stage 2 of Rallye du Maroc tested crews and their vehicles to the limit in demanding conditions

• Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings won Stage 2 and moved into second overall
• Seth Quintero and Andrew Short overcame difficulties to finish seventh on Stage 2
• Akira Miura and Armand Monleón continued to make positive progress, ending Stage 2 in 15th
• Thursday’s Stage 3 takes crews to the Sahara Desert on 363 km of timed action

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing W2RC (TGR W2RC) won Stage 2 of the Rallye du Maroc and moved into contention for overall victory after a gruelling day of action across harsh terrain in the penultimate round of the 2026 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC).

In temperatures of more than 30°C, the 300 km timed section of Stage 2 was particularly challenging with regularly changing conditions testing both crews and their DKR GR Hilux pickups.  

Starting at more than 1,000 metres above sea level, the route began south-west of Zagora and descended sharply on rocky tracks before the first sandy section, through dried riverbeds. Sand dunes followed before the stage looped eastwards and the terrain alternated between slow, rocky surfaces and soft sand through to the finish. Despite the difficulties, TGR W2RC made progress and has the podium in its sights, with two cars in the top 10.

Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings – 10th after Stage 1 – fought for victory from the beginning. They took the lead inside the opening half of the stage, before dropping to second going into the final kilometres. However, they reclaimed top spot shortly before the end and earned a stage win which moves the #202 DKR GR Hilux into second overall, just 28 seconds behind leaders Lucas Moraes and Pablo Moreno (Dacia Sandriders).

Seth Quintero and navigator Andrew Short started the day in seventh and initially lost ground early in Stage 2. However, they worked hard to minimise the damage and stay on course to earn valuable World Championship points after finishing Stage 2 in seventh. The #203 DKR GR Hilux remains seventh overall, within three minutes of the podium positions.

Akira Miura and Armand Monleón built on their strong performance in the opening stage by continuing to gain positions in the overall standings in the #204 DKR GR Hilux. They finished the stage in 15th place and have climbed to 14th overall.

The crews have three days and more than 1,000 km of competition remaining, continuing on Thursday with Stage 3. It consists of another loop around Zagora, this time touching the northern edge of the Sahara Desert on a 591 km route which includes a 363 km timed section.

Quotes:

Henk Lategan: “It was a really nice day, much better than yesterday. The car was performing really well, mechanically sound all day. The goal this morning was not to get out of the car and we managed that. Brett did a great job on the navigation. I just managed the pace and tried to make sure we didn’t get punctures or other trouble. I’m really happy with how it went. It has been a big day for us, and we’ve pulled ourselves back into contention. Now we have to open the road, which is always difficult, but we’ll keep pushing.”

Seth Quintero: “It was a decent day for us, just unfortunate that we had some navigation errors which cost us a few minutes. We are five minutes off the overall lead, which is not the best position, but we will push to improve it. It was an amazing job for Henk to get the win. It’s awesome for the team, and brings good points, so I’m super happy for him. For us, we are in front of our championship rivals and hopefully we can keep it that way. There are three long days to go.”

Akira Miura: “It was a difficult stage because we had to change our pace depending on the terrain to manage the risks. It was not easy, but we made it without trouble. The dune section was great fun. We pushed and really felt the sand surfing. Navigation was tricky today, but Armand helped a lot and allowed us to continue at a good pace. We’ll try to keep this going consistently and get more experience over the rest of the rally.”

Rallye du Maroc – Provisional Stage 2 result*

Rallye du Maroc – Provisional standings after Stage 2*

*Correct at time of publication