Lucas Moraes faces Nasser Al-Attiyah: "I am impatient and full of energy"

Lucas Moraes will not be congratulated by his boss, Jean-Marc Fortin, this Thursday evening in Erfoud (Morocco). The official driver Toyota Gazoo Racing had the mission to win the 4th stage of this Rally of Morocco 2025, thanks to a particularly advantageous starting position (9th). However, although he was beaten by Nani Roma (Ford, who started 15th), he was above all beaten by 13 seconds by Sébastien Loeb (Dacia), which nevertheless had fewer tracks to find its way (3rd)!

The Brazilian, who is a jovial man, explained to us what went wrong in this penultimate stage. "We did our best. We had a few issues during the stage, which put us in the wrong rhythm. In fact, it's more my riding that needs to be corrected. I was too cautious, especially in the stony sections."

At 35, Lucas Moraes, in contention for the title W2RC, is still relatively inexperienced at the world level. For example, this is only his second participation in the Rally of Morocco, while his rivals have known the African tracks for 10, even 20 years. This is something that Jean-Marc Fortin did not fail to point out. "We are facing a very experienced driver while ours is still in the learning phase, even if he has a good level."

The third-place finisher in the 2024 world championship is therefore second in the Rallye du Maroc before the final stage, 3'38'' behind the leaders Sébastien Loeb-Édouard Boulanger (Dacia). He has a 3'03'' margin over Nani Roma-Alex Haro (Ford, 3rd). But above all, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Luquin (Dacia) have come back just off the podium (+3'56''), which is not a good result for the Brazilian.

"It's still positive overall, I'm only two points behind Nasser (Al-Attiyah), he prefers to see. Everything will come down to the last minute of the race!”

Rather than feeling the pressure, the Brazilian tells us with a big smile: “I am impatient and full of energy! I want to be tomorrow (Friday) ! The situation is simpler now. Whoever goes fastest will be crowned. Nasser will start right behind us tomorrow morning in the special. We will do our best to beat him.

Indeed, with such a gap, it would be enough for Moraes, for example, to win stage 5 and the Power Selective Section to score at least 2 points more than Nasser Al-Attiyah (if the latter finishes 2nd each time). If he manages to win the Rally of Morocco, he will score 5 points more than currently, which would also allow him to overtake Al-Attiyah by 3 points. Multiple scenarios are possible.

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