The Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team has completed a dominant week at the 2026 Addax Rally in Morocco, with Kevin Gallas successfully defending his title ahead of teammate Alessandro Botturi.
Gallas secured his third stage victory on Friday’s final day to finish the five-stage event in 24h21m53s, beating Botturi by 21m45s after approximately 1600km of competition around Merzouga.
The German led the overall standings from the opening stage, winning the first two days before adding another victory on Stage 5. However, his final day wasn’t without drama.
A minor mechanical issue around the first refuelling stop cost Gallas valuable time before Yamaha’s mechanics resolved the problem. In his rush to recover, he made several navigation errors before settling back into a rhythm over the final 120km.
Gallas eventually recovered enough time to win the stage in 4h12m59s, just 1m37s ahead of Botturi.
“The final day was really interesting. We had a small issue around the first refuelling stop that cost me some time, but the mechanics were able to fix it,” Gallas said.
“Afterwards, I rushed the navigation a little and made some mistakes, so I told myself to calm down and focus. The last 120 km went really smoothly, and I managed to recover enough time to win the stage, which didn’t look likely earlier in the day.”
Botturi finished the final stage second in 4h14m36s, securing the runner-up position overall with a combined time of 24h43m38s. The two-time Africa Eco Race winner finished 19m44s clear of third place.
Gautier Paulin also completed the final stage, finishing ninth among the motorcycles in 4h51m50s.
The former MXGP star had been forced to sit out Stage 3 after a technical issue late in Stage 2 prompted Yamaha to carry out repairs and further testing. Although missing the stage ruled him out of the overall classification, Paulin recorded three second-place stage finishes during the rally.
The event provided Yamaha with another opportunity to develop its Ténéré 700 Rally machines ahead of the 2027 Africa Eco Race, with the team using the rocky tracks, sandy terrain and dunes of Erg Chebbi to test suspension settings, navigation equipment and reliability.
The result follows Yamaha’s overall 1-2 at the 2026 Africa Eco Race, where Gallas claimed victory ahead of Paulin.
Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team Manager Marc Bourgeois said the team had achieved its objectives in Morocco.
“We came here to train, test the bikes and refine our setups ahead of the AER, and we’ve achieved everything we wanted to,” Bourgeois said.
“The terrain and navigation were very demanding, which allowed us to learn a great deal about both the bikes and the riders.”
With another Addax Rally title secured and two Yamaha riders occupying the top two positions, the team now turns its attention to January’s Africa Eco Race, where Gallas will attempt to defend another rally-raid title.
