Fourth place in the SSV category for Slovaks Benko and Sýkora

The Eco Africa Race 2026 event has finally started and today’s second stage of the competition finally worked as it should. It turned out great for the Slovak duo, Martin Benko and Marek Sýkora.

Today’s second, four hundred and twenty-five kilometer long stage, which also included three hundred and eighty-one measured kilometers, headed from the city of Bousaid to Tagounite. The Slovak crew of the Norwit Racing Team, Martin Benko – Marek Sýkora, managed this stage excellently, and in the SSV category, which also includes their Taurus T3 Maxi buggy, they took a wonderful fourth place. In addition, they also took the championship in the T3 class in the running order.

“Finally, after canceling everything that could be canceled at the beginning of the competition, we actually competed today. That is, only half of the planned number of kilometers, since the measured part of the stage had to be shortened by the organizer due to the floods. Specifically, out of four hundred and forty kilometers, we had only measured two hundred and twenty. Of course, after this shortening, the ride was extended. It was quite interesting at the beginning, since the starting point was not well calibrated, so right at the third kilometer we were wrong by about two hundred meters and took a wrong turn. However, we were not alone and it was clearly not our fault, many other competitors also had the same result. We looked for the right turn for about ten minutes, after that everything went great. Navigationally, apart from this one place that Marek could not be held responsible for, it was excellent, the car worked perfectly and we are happy that we are already in the bivouac. The result was also excellent. We are also pleased because we will start further ahead tomorrow and we will not have to “We’ll be able to swallow tons of dust and it will definitely be easier to overtake. Another great thing is that it’s significantly warmer here and it’s not raining, so we’re already looking forward to tomorrow’s stage,” said Martin Benko.

Tomorrow (January 28, 2026) the third stage is ready for all participants of the Eco Africa Race 2026, which will go from the city of Tagounite to the small Moroccan city of Assa, which is located in the southern part of Morocco, where the inhabitants of the Western Sahara mainly live. The total length of the third stage will be five hundred and fourteen kilometers and will also include a four hundred and forty kilometer measured section stretching mainly along sandy roads, evergreen oases and dunes.

First stage of Eco Africa Race 2026 at the finish line, Norwit and others without results

The weather is playing tricks on the organizers and participants of this year’s Eco Africa Race. A pile of snow has fallen in the Atlas Mountains, where the route of the first stage was headed.

The organizers had no choice but to cancel this first stage of the competition, as well as the previous starting ceremony and Prologue, for safety reasons, and to send all participants, including the sole crew of the Taurus T3 Max buggy, the Slovak Norwit Racing Team, Martin Benek and Marek Sýkora, along the connecting route to the bivouac in the city of Bousaid. Thanks to the adverse weather, everyone was faced with a very demanding journey of more than eight hundred kilometers.

“I have to say that this year is very interesting. Yesterday the start ceremony and Prologue were cancelled, today the first stage …. Today we were supposed to have just under ninety measured kilometers, but looking at the weather we don’t regret it at all. As soon as we left Tangier, we were accompanied by heavy rain and thick fog. And there was a lot of snow on the road. As a person from Poprad, I am used to snow, but not in Morocco. I don’t usually complain, but today the eight hundred kilometers were not comfortable at all, especially if we realize that the buggy is a completely open car. But together with Marek we made it without any problems, we are in the bivouac and waiting for the arrival of our accompanying car and mechanics. Then sleep and go to the second stage tomorrow,” described the “wonderful” day Slovak rider Martin Benko.

With the competitors now beyond the Atlas Mountains, to lower altitudes and warmer temperatures, the aforementioned second stage of the Eco Africa Race 2026 should no longer pose a problem for the organizers. Its total length is planned to be only four hundred and twenty-five kilometers, but more than three hundred and eighty of them will be measured, so participants and fans alike have something to look forward to.