TOYOTA GAZOO Racing's Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel take part in the 2022 Rally Morocco as part of the 2022 World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC).
The race takes place on 2-6 October 2022 where the team fielded the Dakar winning GR DKR Hilux T1+ which has undergone continuous refinement throughout the season.
The 2022 Morocco Rally ends in the city of Agadir, Morocco after five very strenuous stages spanning 1,506 km.
The final stage from Tan Tan to Agadir, consists of 185 km of small sand dunes and rocky tracks, with a cover section along the Moroccan coast.
Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel completed the final stage with the 5th fastest time, finishing 3rd in the overall standings.
The pair started the final stage as the third car as a tactic to attack the fastest time.
However, they lost time early in the stage due to stumbling across navigation, before setting off to catch up to the crew ahead.
Nasser managed to close the gap significantly, finishing just 1 minute 55 seconds behind the late stage winners.
This year's Morocco rally has proved a formidable challenge, but if it weren't for the bad luck with four issues in Stage 2, the TGR crew might have taken the GR DKR Hilux T1+ home to a higher order.
In the end, the team was forced to shift focus away from a unanimous win aiming to score as many points as possible in this year's inaugural W2RC competition.
The TGR pair started the race one point behind leaders W2RC.
But based on 13 points earned and another 20 points awarded for third place overall, they managed to lead in the championship with a 22-point advantage.
While tire bursts played a role in the final outcome of the race, the team reported no technical issues with the GR DKR Hilux T1+.
TGR is confident that they are making progress in their bid to defend the Dakar Rally crown in January 2023.
Meanwhile, there is one more race in the inaugural season of W2RC, where the Andalusia Rally will be the deciding round.
With four stages plus a prologue, the Andalusian Rally is slightly shorter than the Marocco Rally, but will still play an important role in the championship.
W2RC 2022 kicked off with the Dakar Rally in January, in which Nasser and Mathieu recorded victories.
Followed by the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, where the TGR crew finished in 6th position, and finally the podium at the Rally of Morocco 2022.
