2023 Rallye du Maroc: Jacquemain wins Rally3 for ART, Kurtaj scores championship

Cheikh Yves Jacquemain is a seven-time champion of the Senegal Cross-Country Championship who has dreamed of racing the Dakar Rally, and was poised to take part in the 2008 edition before it was cancelled. While the race no longer runs through his home country of Senegal, he was more than eager to showcase himself on the global stage when the World Rally-Raid Championship arrived in Morocco for the Rallye du Maroc.

Competing for the Africa Rallye Team, a programme run by Rallye du Maroc organiser ODC Event to promote domestic rally competitors, Jacquemain did not take long to impress as he won the Rally3 category in his W2RC début by nearly an hour on the field. Fellow ART rider Souleymane Addahri joined him on the overall podium in third.

Jacquemain captured the momentum first by winning the Prologue and Stage #1, and never relinquished the overall lead for the rest of the race. Addahri and Richárd Hodola scored a stage win each, but Jacquemain finished on the podium in all five legs while his margins of victory were significantly greater than theirs. Hodola also completed the podium lockout, but his runner-up to Jacquemain in the first stage was by over eighteen minutes while his Stage #4 win over Jacquemain came by just thirty-three seconds. Addahri’s Stage #2 victory was also by less than a minute on his ART team-mate.

Although not a win, the silver medal is still a strong finish for Hodola after placing sixth in the 2022 edition. He was the lone Rally3 competitor from 2022 to return to the class as those like winner Amine Echiguer and second-placed Guillaume Borne moved up to Rally2.

Ardit Kurtaj was the only other rider with a stage podium when he finished second to Jacquemain in Stage #3, though he was over an hour behind Addahri in the overall. He woke up with an upset stomach for the fourth day, forcing him to ride more conservatively and finishing fourth.

The W2RC Rally3 title turned out to be a wonderful substitute for Pepto-Bismol as Kurtaj clinched the title over Alexander Chepurkó and Massimo Camurri. Kurtaj and Chepurkó entered all three Rally3 rounds in 2023, with the former finishing second to Camurri at the Sonora Rally and winning the Desafío Ruta 40. Both races only featured three entrants compared to the thirteen at Morocco.

Chepurkó placed fifth overall and over two hours back of Kurtaj. After skipping Argentina, Camurri’s title hopes were dashed by a crash in Stage #2; he trailed Kurtaj by twenty entering Morocco. Even though he ran just one race, Jacquemain’s win ranked him joint third in the championship with Camurri.

Rally3 overall results

Rally3 stage winners

Overall winners

W2RC Rally3 standings