Schareina leads Monster Energy/Honda Stage 4 podium sweep

White hot nearing the start of the South American winter, the Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally Team put on another podium-sweeping display of off road racing excellence today as Tosha Schareina (1st), Ricky Brabec (2nd) and Adrien Van Beveren (3rd) put their names on the World Rally-Raid Championship’s YPF INFINIA Desafio Ruta 40 marquee yet again as the race winds down to its final stage on Friday.

Leading the way in Thursday’s penultimate stage (4) for Monster Energy aboard his Honda CRF450 Rally was last year’s Ruta 40 winner, Schareina. The Spaniard rode a flawless race, backing his event opening Prologue win on Sunday with his second stage win – by seven seconds over teammate Brabec. The win for Schareina would clip several seconds off Brabec’s overall Ruta 40 leading time (15:31:35) to set up an all-or-nothing rip to the finish on Friday for the two racers.

Said Schareina: “Today was gnarly again, especially the first part. Most of the kilometers were sandy and very bumpy, which was a perfect warm up after the cold liaison. I tried to push hard in the refueling and realized that Ricky (Brabec) and I were so close, so the plan for that last 100 kilometers was clear – and we did it! Took the stage victory.”

For Brabec, who opened today’s Stage 4 and trailed his teammate (Schareina) by a mere second with 20 kilometers left in the contest, it’d be a rematch race to the tape in Stage 4 as Brabec topped Schareina on Monday’s Stage 1 by a lone second.

"Stage 4 started out a little bit dark, wasn’t that bad,” said Brabec. “Started in some stones. Then into some rocky piste, before hitting some bushes – with less visible traces (tough to follow the tire tracks). Then a long section of sand and sand whoops, which I really enjoyed. It was a big fight all day. Four days in the book, definitely looking forward to reaching the final day tomorrow. It’s been a big push for the whole team, everyone’s riding really well. We’ll just keep pushing until the checker flag tomorrow and, hopefully, everything works out well.”

As for his plan today, as the lead bike out of the start, Brabec said there wasn’t much of a strategy. “I didn’t have a plan today. Other than just to not lose much time (laughter). “

And for Schareina, who’s 1:27 back of Brabec with one stage to go in order to defend his Ruta 40 title… “218 kilometers and I’m going to give it everything to take down that time between Ricky and I.”

Also with a shot, at 4:28 back of Brabec, is the Stage 4 3rd place podium finisher – Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally Team’s Van Beveren.

“Ricky and Tosha are riding really good, really fast,” said Van Beveren, who’s in 2nd place in the overall WRRC series standings behind Monster Energy’s Ross Branch (Hero Motosports). “I was not slow today (Stage 4), but Ricky and Tosha were pushing really hard. At the last 100 kilometers I pushed really hard, but couldn’t make back up the time. The bike is amazing and I’m enjoying this race.”

Rounding out the top five Stage 4 scoring for Monster Energy was Branch in 4th place and Skyler Howes (Honda) in 5th.

Said Branch, the overall WRRC series points leader: “Stage 4 in the books – and what an amazing stage! Little bit of everything today, some sandy terrain, some rocks, some WRC (World Rally Championship) stuff. I enjoyed it and had so much fun on my Hero 450 Rally dirt bike. Looking forward to the last stage tomorrow. The Hondas are running really well, so we’ll definitely have a big fight on our hands.”

Desafio Ruta 40 Stage 4 Results

1st – Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy/Honda) 3:37:25
2nd – Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda) + 0:07
3rd – Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda) + 0:57
4th – Ross Branch (Hero/Monster Energy) + 3:05
5th – Skyler Howes (Monster Energy/Honda) + 3:40

Desafio Ruta 40 overall standings (after Prologue through Stage 4)

1st – Brabec (15:31:35)
2nd – Schareina (+ 1:27)
3rd – Van Beveren (+ 4:28)
4th – Howes (+ 9:01)
5th – Branch (+ 12:26)

2024 FIM World Rally-Raid Championship (through 3 of 5 rounds)

Overall Standings

1st – Ross Branch (Monster Energy/Hero Motosports), 61 points
2nd – Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda HRC), 40 points
3rd – Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda HRC), 38 points
4th – Pablo Quintanilla (Monster Energy/Honda HRC), 27 points
5th – Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy/Honda HRC), 25 points
6th – Aaron Mare (Monster Energy/Hero Motosports), 25 points
7th – Nacho Cornejo (Monster Energy/Hero Motosports), 20 points
8th – Skyler Howes (Monster Energy/Honda HRC), 13 points

Up next… The final stage, Stage 5, of the Argentinian FIM World Rally-Raid Championship’s YPF INFINIA Desafio Ruta 40 runs from Larioja to Cordoba on Friday with a shorter 218 kilometer Special and 301 kilometer Liaison. For more info on WRRC and Monster Energy’s racers with Honda and Hero, link to: www.worldrallyraidchampionship.com