The last, fifth stage of the Rallye du Maroc 2025 world championship did not turn out quite as Martin Benko and Marek Sýkora had imagined. They were stopped in it by a ditch.
The replaced engine on the Taurus T3 Max buggy worked perfectly in both the fourth and fifth stages, which was also proven by the crew on the track. However, gradual acceleration today at the one hundred and ninetieth kilometer out of the total two hundred and forty-seven measured kilometers stopped the jump over the ditch. Thanks to it, the buggy received a hit on the front axle and the bent arms turned it into a copy of Charlie Chaplin’s legs. Unfortunately, it was not possible to continue with such a tuning modification and so the Norwit Racing Team ended its participation in the competition. However, the aforementioned conclusion meant that the team did not meet its goal, which was to reach the finish line of the competition.
“I’m very sorry, but it was a ditch that only had one crossing over a concrete bridge. Since there were several vehicles in front of us, which were really dusty and we couldn’t see anything, we missed the bridge by a few meters and this is how it turned out. Fortunately, only the buggy suffered any damage and Marek and I are fine. But I’m glad that we are driving a car and I don’t ride a motorbike anymore, because such a mistake probably wouldn’t have turned out well there. The stage was otherwise very nice, it had everything we wanted, except for that bridge. We didn’t meet our goal, but it doesn’t matter, the important thing is that we reached “almost” the end and, most importantly, we collected an incredible amount of experience, data and deepened our mutual cooperation in the car. Of course, for all this, a big thank you goes to all the partners of the Norwit Racing Team, the dedicated mechanics and ultimately also to our families, who suffer from this “deviation” of ours. “Next time it will definitely be much better,” Martin Benko assessed after the competition.
We will not reveal where and when we will see the Martin Benko – Marek Sýkora crew on the tracks again, but we already know that you will definitely enjoy their continued performance.