Jose “Nacho” Cornejo takes 2nd in Stage 4 | Rallye du Maroc
Monster Energy’s Jose “Nacho” Cornejo placed 2nd at Rallye du Maroc Stage 4; with only the Final Stage 5 left to go.
Bit of a rough go for Monster Energy racers on Tuesday’s Stage 4 at Morocco’s Rallye du Maroc, Round Five of the 2023 FIM World Rally Raid Championship, as one lone podium was scored – a strong 2nd place effort by Jose Cornejo (Honda HRC Rally).
Suffering a touch mechanical issue, a reported situation with his exhaust pipe that led to a loss of power over the last 100 km, Monster Energy’s back-to-back winner (Stages 2 & 3), Tosha Schareina (Team Honda), had to settle for a 5th place finish – one spot back of Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally’s Pablo Quintanilla in 4th place. And with a 6th place finish on Stage 4, Monster Energy’s Ross Branch (Hero Motorsports) was able to hold on to his 2nd place overall position in the standings with one stage remaining.
Said Cornejo: “Stage 4 is done, long stage, little bit of everything. Really fast at the beginning, through refueling. More technical, difficult navigation. So yeah, in the first part I was losing some time I will say. Nothing too bad. The second half I started to push and I think I got back some time, finished in a strong second position on the day. I’m very happy on how the race is going for me. Feeling really good on the bike and having a lot of fun. Tomorrow’s the last stage of the World Championship and we’re going to try and finish it strong.”
Added Schareina: “Here we are at the end of Stage 4. The beginning of the stage was really, really good for me. The first 240 k or so. I think we were in front. After the refueling, I had to ride the second part of the race with my broken exhaust. I didn’t have all the power with the bike, but hey, this is racing. We’re going to come back and fight again tomorrow. Push hard, of course.”
And Branch, who’s just under six minutes out of 1st place overall (behind KTM’s Toby Price), said: “Stage 4 in the books and today was a bit of a hard day for me. I couldn’t find a good flow and I couldn’t get the pace I needed to in order to go with the front runners. But all-in-all it was good. I only made one small navigational mistake, at kilometer 100 where Luciano (Benavides, Husqvarna) passed me. After that I pretty much rode to the end of the stage with him (Benavides won the state). But we’re feeling good, bike’s incredible and we’re looking forward to the last push tomorrow on Stage 5.”
Next up on Rallye du Maroc is Stage 5, the final stage, which will run again from Zagora to Merzouga – entirely on a Special Section totaling 152 km.
Rallye du Maroc Results
Stage 4
2nd - Jose Cornejo (Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally)
4th - Pablo Quintanilla (Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally)
5th - Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy/Team Honda)
6th - Ross Branch (Monster Energy/Hero Motorsports)
8th – Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally)
Overall (after 3 of 5 stages)
2nd - Branch
4th - Quintanilla
5th - Schareina
6th - Cornejo
7th - Van Beveren
Rallye du Maroc Schedule
October 13: Prologue — Agadir (total: 119 km)
October 14: Stage 1 — Agadir–Zagora (road section: 397 km / special: 324 km / total: 721 km)
October 15: Stage 2 — Zagora–Zagora (road section: 100 km / special: 288 km / total: 388 km)
October 16: Stage 3 — Zagora–Zagora (road section: 108 km / special: 336 km / total: 444 km)
October 17: Stage 4 — Zagora–Merzouga (road section: 75 km / special: 351 km / total: 426 km)
October 18: Stage 5 — Zagora–Merzouga (road section: 0 km / special: 152 km / total: 152 km)
