The 2024 World Rally-Raid Championship was a renaissance campaign for the Taurus T3 Max. After finishing 1–2 at the Dakar Rally in the Challenger category to kick off the year, Tauruses went a whopping 1–2–3–4–5 in class at the Rallye du Maroc to cap off the season.
The newly formed EnergyLandia Taurus Factory Team led the way with Eryk Goczał scoring his maiden W2RC Challenger victory ahead of his father and defending winner Marek Goczał. Eryk and his uncle Michał Goczał won all six legs including the Prologue, though the latter was unable to compete for the overall after his onboard fire extinguisher discharged before the start of Stage #4 and could not be replaced in time.
“The goal was to get 1–2–3 Goczal on the podium. Unfortunately, we just barely missed Michał on the podium but I think it’s a good step towards Dakar and we’re going to push more,” Eryk said.
Behind the Goczałs, their fellow Tauruses kept pace in every stage and none of their rivals from Can-Am or OT3 ever cracked the top five. Taurus drivers locked out top six in Stage #1 followed by eight in Stage #2, seven in Stage #3, and five in Stage #4. The MCE-5 Development and Wevers Sport joint project recorded a second 1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8 to end the day.
Rui Carneiro‘s G Rally OT3 scored the highest stage finish for a non-Taurus of sixth in Stage #4, narrowly losing out to Khalifa Al-Attiyah by twenty-two seconds. Naturally, Carneiro was also the best performing Challenger driver outside of Taurus overall as he was sixth behind Eryk and Marek Goczał, Dania Akeel, Nicolás Cavigliasso, and Mitch Guthrie.
The back half of the outright top ten was mainly populated by the OT3 save for Emilio Fernández‘s Taurus in ninth. Quad veteran-turned-OT3 driver Alexandre Giroud closed out the order in his Challenger début, while team-mate and 2023 Dakar Original by Motul winner Charan Moore had to bow out due to a crash while navigating for Puck Klaassen.
Despite their usual success in Challenger, Can-Am struggled in Morocco. Oscar Olivas was the highest Maverick finisher in fourteenth, which was even behind the category’s other manufacturers Arcane Racing (Hans Weijs Jr. in twelfth) and X-raid Yamaha (Pál Lónyai, thirteenth). MMP Compétition‘s MMP T3, which is based on the Can-Am, also struggled as Ricardo Porém retired halfway and Francis Balocchi was twenty-seventh.
Despite Cavigliasso’s performance and Can-Am’s outing, the former was unable to pass Rokas Baciuška for the championship. Baciuška entered Morocco on a two-race win streak and a 44-point advantage in the standings, then clinched the title during the third stage. Ironically, he did not finish the Rallye du Maroc after a mechanical failure on the final day. Still, he was the first person to win a W2RC championship in multiple classes after back-to-back SSV crowns in 2022 and 2023.
Although he failed to claim the drivers’ title, his wife Valentina Pertegarini became the first woman to win a World Rally-Raid Championship as she topped the co-drivers’ standings. Baciuška’s navigator Oriol Vidal had missed two rounds including Morocco due to injury, which Pertegarini capitalised upon to pass him.
WRC2 driver Charles Munster was seventeenth in his maiden W2RC start, driving the new Apache APH-03 hybrid car. Moroccan historic rally competitor Louis Baudrand was also entered in an Apache and placed nineteenth. Their entries marked the first time a W2RC event featured cars in the T3.U subcategory for electric and hybrid Challengers.
Challenger overall results
| Finish | Number | Driver | Co-Driver | Team | Class | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 307 | Eryk Goczał | Álex Haro | EnergyLandia Taurus Factory Team | T3.1 | 15:14:11 | Leader |
| 2 | 308 | Marek Goczał | Maciej Marton | EnergyLandia Taurus Factory Team | T3.1 | 15:24:02 | + 9:51 |
| 3 | 303 | Dania Akeel | Stéphane Duple | BBR Motorsport | T3.1 | 15:41:32 | + 27:21 |
| 4 | 301 | Nicolás Cavigliasso | Valentina Pertegarini | BBR Motorsport | T3.1 | 15:43:55 | + 29:44 |
| 5 | 304 | Mitch Guthrie | Kellon Walch | Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team | T3.1 | 15:55:43 | + 41:32 |
| 6 | 312 | Rui Carneiro* | Ola Fløene | G Rally Team | T3.1 | 16:11:31 | + 57:20 |
| 7 | 310 | João Dias* | João Miranda | Santag Racing | T3.1 | 16:36:49 | + 1:22:38 |
| 8 | 311 | Lionel Baud | Lucie Baud | G Rally Team | T3.1 | 16:41:25 | + 1:27:14 |
| 9 | 314 | Emilio Fernández* | Álvaro Leon | RaceSeven | T3.1 | 16:57:56 | + 1:43:45 |
| 10 | 319 | Alexandre Giroud* | Jeremy Jacomelli | G Rally Team | T3.1 | 17:14:23 | + 2:00:12 |
| 11 | 332 | Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari* | Nasser Al-Kuwari | QMMF Team | T3.1 | 18:38:15 | + 3:24:04 |
| 12 | 330 | Hans Weijs Jr.* | Dennis Murphy | Arcane Racing | T3.1 | 18:43:15 | + 3:29:04 |
| 13 | 329 | Pál Lónyai* | Aleksei Kuzmich | X-raid Yamaha Supported Team | T3.1 | 19:12:42 | + 3:58:31 |
| 14 | 334 | Oscar Olivas* | Luis Barrios | BE Racing | T3.1 | 19:55:38 | + 4:41:27 |
| 15 | 320 | Richard Aczel* | Wouter Rosegaar | Arcane Racing | T3.1 | 20:19:47 | + 5:05:36 |
| 16 | 336 | Joan Piferrer* | Joan Rubi | Buggy Masters | T3.1 | 20:24:41 | + 5:10:30 |
| 17 | 323 | Charles Munster* | Loïc Dumont | Bernard Munster Autosport | T3.U | 20:41;48 | + 5:27:37 |
| 18 | 327 | Riné Streppel* | Lisette Bakker | Arcane Racing | T3.1 | 21:51:20 | + 6:37:09 |
| 19 | 338 | Louis Baudrand* | Rémi Boulanger | Bernard Munster Autosport | T3.U | 21:57:32 | + 6:43:21 |
| 20 | 325 | Craig Lumsden* | Jamie Lambert | South Racing Can-Am | T3.1 | 24:12:58 | + 8:58:47 |
| 21 | 342 | Jawhara Bennani* | El Amine Guessous | Africa Rallye Team | T3.1 | 27:49:14 | + 12:35:03 |
| 22 | 322 | Michał Goczał | Diego Ortega | EnergyLandia Taurus Factory Team | T3.1 | 32:58:18 | + 17:44:07 |
| 23 | 302 | Marcelo Gastaldi | Carlos Sachs | BBR Motorsport | T3.1 | 34:23:44 | + 19:09:33 |
| 24 | 333 | Lex Peters* | Mark Salomons | Arcane Racing | T3.1 | 35:28:57 | + 20:14:46 |
| 25 | 340 | Khalifa Al-Attiyah* | Enio Bozzano | BBR Motorsport | T3.1 | 36:34:11 | + 21:20:00 |
| 26 | 316 | Adam Kuś* | Dmytro Tsyro | AKPOL | T3.1 | 37:57:30 | + 22:43:19 |
| 27 | 339 | Francis Balocchi* | Anthony Pes | MMP Compétition | T3.1 | 38:03:40 | + 22:49:29 |
| 28 | 318 | Zach Lumsden* | Shannon Moham | South Racing Can-Am | T3.1 | 38:25:31 | + 23:11:20 |
| 29 | 315 | Lawrence Janesky* | Bruno Jacomy | South Racing Can-Am | T3.1 | 39:04:01 | + 23:49:50 |
| 30 | 341 | Aurélien Bouchet* | Elisa Huguenin | ABConcept / BTR | T3.1 | 40:10:07 | + 24:55:56 |
| 31 | 324 | Ahmed Alkuwari* | Augusto Sanz | Nasser Racing | T3.1 | 57:21:44 | + 42:07:33 |
| DNF | 300 | Rokas Baciuška | Fausto Mota | Can-Am Factory Team | T3.1 | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 305 | Ricardo Porém | Nuno Sousa | MMP Compétition | T3.1 | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 306 | Mário Franco | Rui Franco | Franco Sport | T3.1 | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 317 | Puck Klaassen* | Charan Moore | G Rally Team | T3.1 | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 321 | Pedro Gonçalves* | Luis Engeitado | Franco Sport | T3.1 | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 326 | Maria Gameiro* | José Marques | Franco Sport | T3.1 | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 328 | Oscar Ral* | Xavier Blanco | Buggy Masters | T3.1 | DNF | N/A |
Challenger stage winners
| Stage | Driver | Time |
| Prologue | Eryk Goczał | 17:53 |
| Stage #1 | Michał Goczał | 2:20:16 |
| Stage #2 | Michał Goczał | 3:17:42 |
| Stage #3 | Eryk Goczał | 3:30:57 |
| Stage #4 | Eryk Goczał | 3:18:44 |
| Stage #5 | Michał Goczał | 2:37:18 |
W2RC Challenger standings
For readability, competitors registered for the championship but did not earn points are excluded.
Drivers’ standings
| Rank | Driver | Points | Margin |
| 1 | Rokas Baciuška | 209 | Leader |
| 2 | Nicolás Cavigliasso | 187 | – 22 |
| 3 | Marcelo Gastaldi | 143 | – 66 |
| 4 | Austin Jones | 126 | – 83 |
| 5 | Dania Akeel | 124 | – 85 |
| 6 | Mitch Guthrie | 112 | – 97 |
| 7 | Ricardo Porém | 64 | – 145 |
| 8 | Eryk Goczał | 48 | – 161 |
| 9 | Mário Franco | 47 | – 162 |
| 10 | David Zille | 40 | – 169 |
| 11 | Marek Goczał | 39 | – 170 |
| 12 | Michał Goczał | 27 | – 182 |
| 13 | Lionel Baud | 13 | – 196 |
Co-drivers’ standings
| Rank | Co-Driver | Points | Margin |
| 1 | Valentina Pertegarini | 187 | Leader |
| 2 | Oriol Vidal | 160 | – 27 |
| 3 | Carlos Sachs | 143 | – 44 |
| 4 | Stéphane Duplé | 124 | – 63 |
| 5 | Kellon Walch | 112 | – 75 |
| 6 | Oriol Mena | 78 | – 109 |
| 7 | Sébastien Delaunay | 49 | – 138 |
| T-8 | Gustavo Gugelmin | 48 | – 139 |
| T-8 | Álex Haro | 48 | – 139 |
| 10 | Sebastian Cesana | 40 | – 147 |
| 11 | Maciej Marton | 39 | – 148 |
| T-12 | Luís Marques | 32 | – 155 |
| T-12 | Augusto Sanz | 32 | – 155 |
| T-14 | João Serôdio | 27 | – 160 |
| T-14 | Daniel Ortega | 27 | – 160 |
| 16 | Daniel Jordão | 20 | – 167 |
| 17 | Lucie Baud | 13 | – 174 |
