W2RC 2026 result after Round 4: Rallye du Maroc

Following a long summer break since the last event in Argentina, Toyota Gazoo Racing’s crews returned to the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) for the penultimate round of the W2RC 2026 season. This took place across the Atlantic Ocean in Morocco, North Africa, where Toyota conquered high altitudes and challenging terrain to earn a well-deserved double podium – our second overall win of the year.

How did the five-day event pan out in Morocco? Please read on to find out.

W2RC 2026: Rallye du Maroc result – stages one and two

Three immaculately presented Toyota Gazoo Racing DKR GR Hilux crews returned to action in North Africa for the Rallye du Maroc. Coming into the event, Toyota lay second in the manufacturers’ championship, while driver Seth Quintero and navigator Andrew Short were the best-placed crew, being third in their respective standings.

Stage 1: The opening day took place in temperatures exceeding 30°C in a route from the coastal city of Agadir to Zagora near the Algerian border. Competitors faced a steep and stony descent during the opening section before a gradual but faster climb as the route passed through large sand dunes.

Just ten seconds separated the top five after 60 miles of competition, among which were two of the three DKR GR Hilux models. Soon after, the Toyotas hit tyre troubles as they struggled through the dust of other competitors. The #203 car of Quintero and Short (below) and the #202 car of Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings lost time with punctures, but both crews fought back to end the day in more promising positions: seventh and tenth respectively.

Meanwhile, driver Akira Miura and navigator Armand Monleón in the blue (Toyota Auto Body branded) #204 Hilux continued their new pairing in top-level W2RC competition. Consistent, strong pace saw them move up the order during the day but a late puncture dropped them from 15th to 18th place.

Stage 2: Challenged through another day of high temperatures and elevated altitudes, stage two’s 200-mile timed section proved particularly gruelling as changing conditions tested the crews. The route began south-west of Zagora and descended sharply on rocky tracks before transitioning to dried-out riverbeds. Sand dunes then followed before the stage looped eastward and the terrain alternated between rocky surfaces and soft sand.

Starting in tenth place, Lategan and Cummings fought for victory from the beginning. They seized the lead inside the opening half, dropped to second going into the final miles, and then reclaimed the top spot shortly before the end with a stage win. It was a performance that moved the #202 Hilux (above) into second overall. Elsewhere in the Toyota camp, Quintero and Short managed to minimise the damage of lost time early in the stage and reclaimed their #203 car’s seventh position, while Miura and Monleón maintained a steady pace and climbed to 14th overall.

Rallye du Maroc result – stage three to the end

Stage 3: After winning the previous day’s test, Lategan and Cummings faced the additional difficulty of being the first car on this stage. Initially, the speed of their run put them in podium position but they later slipped back to fifth overall due to a combination of incidents: a puncture, one-minute penalty, and navigational challenges across the dunes when there were no other tracks to follow.

Quintero and Short, on the other hand, experienced quite the opposite. The pair lost time early on but responded well with consistent, uninterrupted pace that regained ground. The #203 Hilux took third place in the final miles and replaced the #202 car in second overall. Unfortunately, the strong progress that Miura and Monleón had showed – running inside the top ten for much of the stage – was suddenly halted when a mechanical problem appeared. The pair managed to resolve the issue after a long delay and the #204 Hilux (above) finished in 44th place.

Stage 4: The penultimate day’s route spanned some 200 miles of high-speed action, which featured challenging navigation and a demanding variety of surfaces. But this proved to be perfect hunting ground for Toyota’s two lead DKR GR Hilux models, where the team took control of the rally with just one stage remaining.

Quintero and Short took the overall lead about one-third of the way through in the #203 Hilux, and the pair extended that advantage to 165 seconds over the remainder of the day. At this point it dawned on the pair that if they completed a clean run the following day they had the chance of taking the lead in the drivers’ and co-drivers’ championships. Close behind, however, were Lategan and Cummings in the #202 car. Setting a podium position pace throughout the stage, the duo moved up into second place to form a one-two lead for Toyota coming into the final day of Rallye du Maroc.

Stage 5: Toyota started the day in first and second overall but faced a high-speed final stage over 160 miles to secure a double podium finish. Quintero (below) and Short navigated their #203 Hilux through the finale at a composed rate that balanced pace with safety. Their sixth-place finish in the stage sealed overall victory – their second in a row – by over four minutes and elevated the pair into the lead of their respective championships.

Lategan and Cummings held second overall until late in the stage when they dropped to third after finishing the day tenth. But they couldn’t have lost out to a better competitor – another DKR GR Hilux run by Toyota Gazoo Racing’s regional outfit in South Africa. Hilux crews therefore swept the event’s top three positions (see image below); and while the individual championships are now being led by Toyota crews, Toyota itself has closed the gap in the manufacturers’ championship to 47 points. This sets up something of a grandstand finish in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge on 22-27 November.

W2RC result: Rallye du Maroc final standings

W2RC 2026: manufacturer championship standings

W2RC 2026: Where next?

All three Toyota Gazoo Racing crews will return to action when the final round of the W2RC 2026 season takes place in the United Arab Emirates on 22-27 November. The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge is usually scheduled after the Dakar Rally but was moved to a new slot due to Ramadan falling in February and March. The event is one of the season’s most technical and takes place in the unforgiving Rub’Al Khali Desert, the world’s largest sand ocean.