Atop the WRRC Desafio Ruta 40 podium again as Adrien Van Beveren wins Stage 2
Crazy, mildly controversial stage sees AVB get the win… has it taken away and given to teammate Skyler Howes… then gets it back. Now leads the overall
A wild finish, coupled with an official decision, plus a reconsideration, would create a huge turn of events at Stage 2 of the YPF INFINIA Desafio Ruta 40, Argentina’s round of the 2024 FIM World Rally-Raid Championship. Monster Energy/Honda HRC Team Rally’s Adrien Van Beveren would (finally) come away with the win after appearing to finish 1st on the stage then, temporarily, having the win given to teammate Skyler Howes - only to have a penalty time reduced and get the win back (to AVB).
Let us explain…
FIM and Ruta 40 race officials determined, following the finish, that AVB, Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally Team teammate Pablo Quintanilla and Monster Energy’s Ross Branch (Hero) – the overall WRRC motorcycle class series points leader – were all to receive penalties following speeding violations in the Stage 2 Special section(s). The initial call was that AVB would be penalized 1:20, which then gave the Stage 2 victory to his teammate Howes by 33 seconds. However, after some lobbying, data analysis and, eventually, reconsideration, event officials reduced AVB’s penalty from 1:20 to 20 seconds, which gave AVB the win over his teammate by 27 seconds.
Make sense? Here’s AVB’s call on the matter:
“There was problems with the communication between my bike and the race officials. I told them about it yesterday (Stage 1). The ICO device read 158 (kph) but the GPS was reading 179 (kph). My bike can’t go faster than 159. So they downloaded the data from my GPS and made the correction.”
Added Howes, who was basically not effected by the whole Stage 2 scoring ordeal:
“To be honest, I had no idea of this drama until I got back to the bivouac. I just thought I finished 2nd on the stage from the beginning. I didn’t know that Adrien got a penalty, then had it taken back away. So for me, the feeling stayed the same. When I crossed the finish line it showed that I finished 2nd on the stage. And that’s the way it ended up in the end.”
The final Stage 2 podium spot would go to Monster Energy’s Sebastian Buhler (Hero), who was just over a minute behind AVB and Howes.
“Stage 2 was quite a tricky one. It was really long, like 700 km, to which 420 km was very hard,” said Buhler, who moved into 4th place overall after the Prologue and two stages. “I tried to manage the tire (rear) a little bit better today because yesterday (Stage 1), after refueling, the tire was nearly gone. So today was perfect. I lost a little bit after the refueling, when I didn’t catch it (waypoint) directly, but yeah, at the end it was a nice stage. And a good start position for tomorrow with a little bit more navigation.”
Rounding out the top five for Monster Energy on Stage 2 of the Desafio Ruta 40 were last year’s winner, Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally Team’s Tosha Schareina in 4th and his teammate, Stage 1 winner Ricky Brabec in 5th.
Desafio Ruta 40 Stage 1 Results
1st – Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda) 4:18:42
2nd – Skyler Howes (Monster Energy/Honda) + 0:27
3rd – Sebastian Buhler (Hero/Monster Energy) + 1:09
4th – Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy/Honda) + 3:42
5th – Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda) + 2:29
Desafio Ruta 40 overall standings (after Prologue through Stage 2)
1st – Van Beveren (8:36:34)
2nd – Schareina (+ 0:10)
3rd – Brabec (+ 2:14)
4th – Buhler (+ 2:34)
5th – Howes (+4:15)
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… Stage 3 of the Argentinian FIM World Rally-Raid Championship’s YPF INFINIA Desafio Ruta 40 begins and ends in San Juan on Wednesday with a 341 kilometer Special and 137 kilometer Liaison. For more info on WRRC and Monster Energy’s racers with Honda and Hero, link to: www.worldrallyraidchampionship.com
