- 20 days to go before the service park opens for the fourth round of the season. Following Saudi Arabia, Portugal and Argentina, the FIA-FIM World Rally-Raid Championship caravan will head to the 27th edition of the Rallye OLA Energy du Maroc, organised by Pro Dunes Events, from 28 September to 3 October.
- Agadir, the Moroccan seaside resort on the Atlantic coast, will host the scrutineering, the FIM prologue, the FIA shakedown and the start. Zagora, a historic crossroads for the nomadic caravans of the Sahara, will host the finish of all five stages. A huge bivouac will be the epicentre of the race, which will head into the dunes each day, with separate routes systematically designed for motorcycles and cars.
- In total, 2,637 km await the FIM competitors, including 1,530 km of special stages. The FIA crews will cover 2,524 km overall, with slightly more kilometres in selective sections (1,575 km). The difference comes on Stage 4, where Marc Coma has added an extra 20% of timed kilometres for the FIA competitors. The race director promises those taking part “a complete experience”.
THE RACE IN NUMBERSAgadir and the Souss-Massa region will host the five days leading up to the five stages of the race. The service park will open at noon on Thursday, 24 September. Scrutineering will begin on Saturday, 26 September and conclude the following day. On Monday, 28 September, the FIM motorcycles and quads will set off at 9:00 am on the 18 km timed section of the prologue, held on sandy tracks. The FIA vehicles will follow at 11:39 am for their shakedown.
STAGE PROFILESMarc Coma describes the opening Agadir–Zagora stage as being “in the format of a Dakar stage”. It will be a demanding start, with the first motorcycle leaving the bivouac at 4:14 am and the first car at 6:39 am, before a road section of more than 250 km to the Tata region, on the edge of vast, wild desert expanses. The first special stage will begin there at 9:00 am and is described as “a classic, already featuring the first encounter with the dunes”. Stage 2 will be “the toughest”, according to the rally director, who makes no attempt to hide his enthusiasm: “We have reintroduced some ingredients that had somewhat disappeared, while also managing to find new sections—which is not easy in Morocco.” A completely new section in the Atlas Mountains will feature at the start of the second special, followed by rocky terrain and then sand. The three-time motorcycle winner of the rally describes it as a “complete and intense” day. He has also introduced one new feature for the motorcyclists and another for the cars. The two-wheel competitors will tackle several technical sections designed specifically to add further spice to their challenge. The four-wheel competitors will have a pit stop where they can change their tyres if necessary, allowing them to practise the procedure introduced by the Dakar last January and which will return for the next edition. Stage 3 will offer an opportunity to catch their breath, particularly for the amateur motorcyclists. It will feature the highest average speeds of the week as the competitors head towards the dunes of Merzouga, where dune crossings and navigation will once again come into play. This will be especially true for the leading cars, which will have no tracks left by the motorcycles to follow as they navigate from waypoint to waypoint through Erg Chebbi, due to the separate routes. Stage 4 will be “the most beautiful”, featuring canyon sections, navigation and more previously unused tracks. It will also be the special with the most additional kilometres for the FIA field—63 km more—a decision clearly explained by Marc Coma: “We designed a longer route for the cars that day in response to requests from FIA competitors and their teams, who are preparing for the long distances they will face in January. We know that the challenge is already physically demanding enough for the motorcycle riders, who did not express the same wish.” The final stage will be more conventional and slightly shorter than the previous ones, without bringing the suspense to a premature end. With the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge still to come before the 2026 titles are decided, the race strategies in Zagora should be particularly interesting… QUOTEMarc Coma, Director of the Rallye OLA Energy du Maroc: “The Rallye OLA Energy du Maroc, which will return to its position as the championship finale on the 2027 calendar, is the penultimate round this year. That does not diminish its role as the final dress rehearsal for the Dakar. Always held just over two months before the Dakar, it remains a major sporting challenge thanks to the full variety of African desert terrain found within the Kingdom. It also allows competitors to experience life at the heart of a large bivouac—the perfect immersion in the day-to-day reality they will face in January. The 2026 edition will once again deliver that experience, while introducing previously unused sections and new race formats to continue surprising the regular competitors and offer everyone a complete experience.” PROGRAMME (*)• Friday, 11 September: Entries close • Thursday, 17 September: Entry list published • Thursday, 24 September: Service park opens in Agadir • Saturday, 26 September: Scrutineering
• Sunday, 27 September: Scrutineering
• Monday, 28 September: FIM prologue (total: 176 km / special: 18 km) and FIA shakedown
• Tuesday, 29 September: Stage 1 – Agadir–Zagora • Wednesday, 30 September: Stage 2 – Zagora–Zagora • Thursday, 1 October: Stage 3 – Zagora–Zagora • Friday, 2 October: Stage 4 – Zagora–Zagora • Saturday, 3 October: Stage 5 – Zagora–Zagora
(*) Race times: GMT+0 |
