Rui Cabaço, the Maroc Challenge Briefingman, analyses the next Winter Edition 2022, three years on from the last edition and having mainly overcome the pandemic that cut our plans short. The interruption has been long, but Rui and his team have not wavered in their intention to successfully arrange this reunion edition, which will take place from December 2 to 9.

How do you foresee the return to Morocco after the pandemic?

We face organising a new edition with plenty of enthusiasm, energy and hope. It had never crossed our minds that we would be kept away from our passion for so long.

Will the Winter 2022 mean more to you, the organization and the participants than just the 18th edition of the Maroc,? Have these three years been difficult?

For the organization, this has been a slog through the desert, barefoot and without water… I say this jokingly, but it has been really difficult, since it has been almost 3 years without organising events. It has been very difficult to maintain our entire structure… but we simply had to do so to avoid spoiling a project that until 2019 was one of the most recognised in Europe and that continues to be a benchmark event.

This has also been quite hard for the participants, their adventure often begins long before the event itself, whether buying or preparing a vehicle, their hopes are high for the event and for many it is an adventure into unknown terrain… All this makes a heady brew of emotions that were suddenly interrupted with the constant postponements… The frustration has been similar for both participants and organisation.

There are still a few months to go… Are you impatient?

Yes, very impatient, eager to meet up once again with participants, collaborators and friends in Morocco, to listen to their stories and hear their qualms about facing a new adventure. On another level, I am eagerly looking forward to enjoying all the fantastic possibilities that the country offers for offroad driving.

Will the participants find many novelties?

We have many novelties prepared for upcoming editions of the Maroc, but we will apply them gradually to future editions. To begin with, for this Winter we are going to implement a new participants communication system which will improve communication between all those teams for whom Spanish is not their first language, we also plan to increase the level of  difficulty for the Adventure C3 and C4 categories (utility cars with 4×4 traction), with more sandy areas and more dune ridges.

When will the recons take place?

The reconnaissance will take place early in October, as always you may follow us daily on social networks.