Series: FIM
Thomas Marini has won the 2026 Tout Terrain Rally Cup on the Aprilia Tuareg Rally, taking both the overall standings and the M5 class, which is reserved for twin-cylinder motorcycles. Aprilia Tuareg Racing announced this on 19 October 2026. Team-mate Jacopo Cerutti finished second in both standings, even though he had to retire after a crash in the final round in Romania. The details come from the manufacturer’s press release, which was published by Total Motorcycle and MotoPress.it, among others. No separate final classification with points from the organiser was available when this article was written.
Italian reports call the series the “Campionato Europeo Tout Terrain Rally Cup” and refer to Marini as European champion. According to MotoPress.it, it was the first season on the Tuareg Rally for the rider from San Marino, and also his debut in the series. According to Aprilia, it is the team’s first overall title in this championship.
Three rounds, three wins for Aprilia
The season consisted of three events in Spain, Greece and Romania. Aprilia Tuareg Racing says it won all three.
- Santiago de Compostela (Spain): Cerutti won, while Marini finished second overall and took two daily overall wins.
- Pefki Evia (Greece): another overall win for Cerutti. Marini finished second in his class, with two daily class wins and five overall podium finishes. According to MotoPress.it, more than 100 participants were entered in Greece.
- Râmnicu Sărat (Romania): Marini celebrated his first overall win, won four daily classifications and was on the podium in every stage that was run.
According to Sport Mediaset, Cerutti was fighting Marini for the win in Romania when a serious crash forced him to retire. The team gives no details of any injuries. It says only that Cerutti wants to recover and start the Africa Eco Race with his Tuareg Rally.
According to the press release, Marini said (translated from Italian): “I am really happy to have won the European title, both overall and in the class, above all because it is my first year with Aprilia.”
Context: twin-cylinder machine on top overall
According to MotoPress.it, the overall standings also featured rivals on specialised single-cylinder rally bikes, which traditionally set the pace in this discipline. The reports support the fact that Marini, on the twin-cylinder machine from Noale, won the overall standings as well as the M5 class. The reports do not say how large the final margins in the overall standings were. Aprilia also points to earlier successes with the Tuareg Rally, which is developed together with the Guareschi brothers’ GCorse: wins at the Africa Eco Race in 2024 and 2025, and three consecutive Italian Motorally titles from 2023 to 2025.
Next outing: Addax Rally in Morocco
Aprilia Tuareg Racing’s next planned start is the Addax Rally in Morocco from 25 to 30 October 2026. Thomas Marini, Marco Menichini and Francesco Montanari have been announced. According to Sport Mediaset, the outing serves as preparation for the 2027 Africa Eco Race.
Sources and image credits
Text sources
- MotoPress.it: “Aprilia Tuareg Rally, titolo europeo con Marini”, 19 October 2026, motopress.it/aprilia-tuareg-rally
- Sport Mediaset: “Motociclismo, Aprilia e Marini campioni nel campionato Tout Terrain Rally Cup”, 19 October 2026, sportmediaset.mediaset.it
- Total Motorcycle: “Total Dominance for Aprilia Tuareg Racing, Winning Every Race on its European Debut” (press release from Aprilia), 19 October 2026, totalmotorcycle.com
- Dukagjini: “Aprilia pushton Evropën që në debutim: Tuareg Rally merr dy tituj dhe dy vendet e para”, 19 October 2026, dukagjini.com
All reports are based on the same press release from Aprilia Tuareg Racing and are therefore not independent confirmations of one another.
Image credits
- Subject: Aprilia Tuareg Rally with race number 15 on a wet gravel track. Rider and location not named in the source. Photographer not named. Original source: MotoPress.it. Date of photo unknown, published in October 2026. No licence information is given on the source page.