2024 Rallye du Maroc: Martin Macik Jr. sweeps Truck in Benny’s debut

Martin Macík Jr. will enter the 2025 Dakar Rally with more than enough confidence that “Benny the Big Guy” can help him defend his Truck title.

MM Technology‘s IVECO EVO 4 made its début at the Rallye du Maroc, replacing the EVO 3 that helped Macík win the latest Dakar in January. His new truck, affectionately nicknamed Benny (Bohouš in its native Czech), dominated by winning the Prologue and all five stages. Kees Koolen, in his own EVO 4 dubbed “Tony”, completed a 1–2 finish by placing roughly fifty-five minutes back.

“I trusted Benny from the beginning, but I didn’t dare to assume that he would carry us to victory,” Macík remarked. “Besides the joy of the first place, we are taking home a lot of knowledge that we will use to fine-tune the truck a bit more before the Dakar.”

The win marked a rebound for Macík after being disqualified while leading the 2023 race. It was not entirely smooth sailing despite winning every stage, with his co-driver František Tomášek recalling when they “took a wrong turn and were overtaken by Kees Koolen” during Stage #4 while mechanic David Švanda commented they “were jumping and landing quite hard at times, especially in the dunes and riverbeds, which were very rough after the heavy rains. So occasionally I was worried about Benny. But he pulled it off very well.”

Tjeerd van Ballegooij joined the MM trucks on the class podium, an impressive finish in his driving début. Van Ballegooij was originally slated to be the co-driver of Rainbow Truck Team‘s MAN TGA before Gerrit Zuurmond opted to stay home to be with his wife Erica, who was dealing with medical concerns. Zuurmond’s brother Dick Zuurmond took over as mechanic.

Martin Šoltys provided the closest challenge to Macík after finishing second in each of the first two stages and third in Stage #3, but withdrew afterwards due to a viral infection that had been nagging him. His Buggyra ZM Racing team-mate Karel Poslední was the last truck to reach the finish in his first desert race.

“I came to Morocco with some kind of bug, so unfortunately we had to retire after four days,” Šoltys explained. “There’s nothing we can do about it; health is more important. Now I will prepare intensively for the Dakar.”

Alexandre Lemeray‘s hybrid truck, fielded by the new Normandy Racing Solutions from his Team HoleShot Compétition, was officially classified as a retirement but mainly served as a test truck for NRS’ new service vehicles.

Truck overall results

Truck stage winners