Rabat – Rallye du Maroc, after a brief interruption in 2020 due to COVID-19, is set to go ahead this year, from October 6 to October 14.
Rallye du Maroc, previously called Atlas Rally, is an annual rally raid that started in 1982. In the context of COVID-19, this year’s routes will avoid cities instead, focusing on a “wide range of terrain, a mix of technical, fast and sandy tracks, dunes and navigation.”
The route will pass through the dunes of Chegaga and the Draa Valley, in the Zagora province, also known as the gate to Sahara. The route will pass “alternating terrain for rapid and technical passages while avoiding rocky areas.”
The registration for the 2021 iteration of the rally begins on April 12 and ends on September 30. The main event begins with administrative and technical checks on October 7, and the prologue will take place on October 8. The five stages of the rally will take place between October 8 and October 13, with the awards presented following the conclusion of the last stage.
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The organizers have reserved a private ferry that will leave between October 4 and October 5, from the port of Motril or Almeria in southern Spain to arrive in the port of Nador in Morocco.
Furthermore, the organizers are looking into the possibility of chartered flights for the rally. Depending on the level of interest, the flights would go directly from Europe to Morocco, departing on the morning of October 6, with a return flight on October 14th.
In 2020, Rallye du Maroc and Rallye Aicha des Gazelles were two of the plethora of sports events canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The last iteration of the event that went ahead, in 2019, saw the participation of the famous Spanish motorsports driver Fernando Alonso. Marc Coma, the five time champion of Dakar Rally, was Alonso’s co-driver.
