Yet another All-Monster Energy podium @ WRRC’s Ruta 40 with Honda’s Brabec, Howes & Van Beveren
Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally Team racers not only sweep the Stage 3 podium, but also populate the top three overall positions in the Ruta 40
Massive day on Wednesday for Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally Team’s Ricky Brabec on Stage 3 of the YPF INFINIA Desafio Ruta 40, Argentina’s round of the 2024 FIM World Rally-Raid Championship. The California native and two-time Dakar Rally champion stepped his game up and won the stage, erasing an overall 2:14 deficit to teammate Adrien Van Beveren (race leader following Stage 2, placed 4th in today’s Stage 3) to take the overall lead with a 1:34 gap over another teammate, Skyler Howes – who placed 2nd on Stage 3. Rounding out the All-Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally Team podium today was last year’s Ruta 40 champion, Tosha Schareina, in 3rd place.
The overall event leader Brabec heads into Thursday’s penultimate stage running from San Juan to Larioja with a ton of confidence, which is going to be tough for the rest of the field to overcome.
“Feels good to get another stage win, although in rally you don’t always want to win,” said Brabec, who will have to start 1st in tomorrow’s Stage 4 and won’t have the luxury of following other racers’ tracks when working to navigate the course. “Today I started out a little bit slow. I was freezing, so I really couldn’t move that great. But after refueling I knew I needed to step it up a little bit. We had a short transfer (section) and I knew after that, between the transfer and the finish, it was time to put the gas on.”
Today’s win for Brabec was his second of the ’24 Desafio Ruta 40, having also won the Prologue.
“Tomorrow I get to open, and hopefully we can do a good job with that. Then on the final day (Friday) it’s going to be a maximum attack day and hopefully we can land on the top of the podium,” he added.
2nd place at Wednesday’s Stage 3 would go to Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally Team’s Howes, who also bumped up to 4th place in the overall Desafio Ruta 40 standings ahead of Monster Energy-backed Ross Branch (Hero Motosports).
“Yeah, it was just like riding at home today,” said Howes of the similarity in terrain between Argentina and Utah. “Felt used to it, much more comfortable in this open desert racing and river beds, with more navigation rather than the WRC-style roads. So I enjoyed today a lot. The navigation was quite tricky, but Adrien (Van Beveren) opened the whole stage. He stayed in front pretty much the whole way and did such a good job. I just pushed and came in 2nd again – Ricky (Brabec) smoked us all. But so far it was my favorite stage of the whole rally.”
The third and final spot on the Stage 3 podium would belong to Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally Team’s Schareina, who’s 3:18:53 run would put him 3:38 back of Brabec, but also past Van Beveren and into 2nd place overall in the standings following three of five stages.
Said Schareina: “Today was a real desert race, which was, honestly, good for me. I tried to push, but the American guys (Brabec and Howes) were so fast today. I had a few mistakes, got confused in some parts, but yeah, we had a good push and are ready for tomorrow. We are so close in the overall.”
Rounding out the Stage 3 top four was Van Beveren, who, with a 20-second penalty added to his time from Tuesday’s Stage 2 (speeding in a controlled speed area), clocked an 11:57:41, 5:52 back of Brabec.
“Was a really, really tough stage and I’m super happy with my riding – even more that my win yesterday,” said Van Beveren. “Lot of vegetation and river beds made it really tricky. You can’t see the tracks, which made for tricky navigation all day as well. But my Monster Energy/Honda CRF450 Rally did amazing and I really enjoyed today a lot.”
For the Monster Energy-fueled Hero Motosports team it’d be Branch, the overall WRRC points leader, with the top finish for his team. Branch clocked a 3:21:55 on Stage 3, 6:40 back of Brabec and good enough for 6th place, while teammate Sebastian Buhler placed 8th.
Desafio Ruta 40 Stage 3 Results
1st – Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda) 3:15:15
2nd – Skyler Howes (Monster Energy/Honda) + 3:27
3rd – Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy/Honda) + 3:38
5th – Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda) + 5:52
6th – Ross Branch (Hero/Monster Energy) + 6:40
Desafio Ruta 40 overall standings (after Prologue through Stage 3)
1st – Brabec (11:54:03)
2nd – Schareina (+ 1:34)
3rd – Van Beveren (+ 3:38)
4th – Howes (+ 5:28)
5th – Branch (+ 9:28)
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 4 of the Argentinian FIM World Rally-Raid Championship’s YPF INFINIA Desafio Ruta 40 runs from San Juan to Larioja on Thursday with a 412 kilometer Special and 264 kilometer Liaison. For more info on WRRC and Monster Energy’s racers with Honda and Hero, link to: www.worldrallyraidchampionship.com
