Tosha Schareina Wins Stage 2 at Rallye du Maroc
Monster Energy's Off Road Rider, Tosha Schareina (Team Honda Rally) wins Stage 2 at Morocco's Rallye du Maroc.
With Monster Energy/Honda Team Rally’s Ricky Brabec suffering an unfortunate injury (knee) at during Stage 1 of the Rally Du Maroc, the fifth and final round of the 2024 World Rally Raid Championship, Monster Energy’s Ross Branch (Hero Motosports), who was leading the series championship by nine points in from of Brabec heading into Morocco, is now the odds-on favorite to capture the overall motorcycle division championship.
That said, there’s still four more stages to be run in the famous off-road contest, and Tuesday’s Stage 2 victory went to another top Monster Energy off-roader, Team Honda Rally’s Tosha Schareina.
Schareina, who won Sunday’s short Prologue race (his fourth WRRC Prologue win of the year) to open the event, was on the podium (3rd place) in Monday’s opening stage, and won Tuesday’s Stage 2 by 1:19 over his Monster Energy/Honda-backed teammate, Adrien Van Beveren.
“Good stage for us,” said Schareina, who now leads the Rallye Du Maroc overall by 42 seconds over KTM’s Daniel Sanders. “The first part of the stage we tried to push again, but after that I did two big mistakes and I think we lost one minute with each one. But yeah, after that I tried to push again. I caught Ross (Branch) in the dunes, and I think he was thinking of the championship (making the pass easy). Then before the refuel I caught Daniel (Sanders), and tried to push after that. But it was so difficult with the dust, so I just tried to ride smooth, with no crashes, and save it for tomorrow (Stage 3).”
Also noteworthy is the fact that Schareina has now won nine stages on the WRRC tour this year, the record being ten stage wins by KTM’s Luciano Benavides. Said Schareina: “I did not know that. We have three more stages to race so yeah, why not?”
For Van Beveren, Tuesday’s Stage 2 was going well – until he came upon a fallen racer, fellow Monster Energy-backed competitor Sebastian Buhler (Hero Motosports). Van Beveren stopped to render aid to Buhler, until race safety officials arrived, then remounted his Honda Rally 450 and rejoined the race.
“Today I started in eighth position, and I could see that I was catching the guys in front of me, but, unfortunately, at kilometer 140 I arrived and see the bike of Sebastian Buhler on the ground,” explained Van Beveren. “Sebastian (Buhler) had just had a really bad crash in the stony section. It was really difficult to know what to do, so I stopped, because with our sport we really have to respect the desert.”
When asked if that’s difficult, to re-enter a race after stopping to render aid to a fallen racer, Van Beveren said “I tried to re-group and focus, because I knew if I’m not focused it’s possible for me to have this type of accident also. So I just tried to really focus and give the best to the end. It was difficult and there was a lot of danger, but in the end I was riding good.” Note: Buhler, who was taken by helicopter to the local Marrakesh hospital, is out for the remainder of the Rallye Du Maroc.
As noted by Schareina, Branch was playing it smart in his quest, which meant letting the other top WRRC competitors get past him – or even catch him for that matter – without putting up a fight.
“It was a tough day today. There was a lot of things that can catch you. Lot of wash aways, things that are really tough on the body and the bike. So yeah, I was taking it one step at a time, trying to control things the best that I can.”
When asked if that ‘cautious’ riding style suites him, Branch said “I don’t really like riding this type of race. I really like to go out and push it to the limit, go 110-percent. But I really need to focus on the end goal and that’s to get to the finish line of this rally.”
And rounding out the top five in Stage 2 scoring for Monster Energy was Honda Rally Team’s Pablo Quintanilla.
“Today was a good day. Rough also, like yesterday,” said Quintanilla, who also moved into the Rallye Du Maroc’s top five overall (5th). “But from the start I got to a good pace, not as much aggressive, but smooth – and without any risk. The terrain was really mixed, between dunes, some road sections and broken off pistes.”
Quintanilla added that the team made a small change to his bike, saying “Today was much better than yesterday, so I’m happy.”
Wednesday’s Stage 3… The longest of the five stages begins in Zagora and travels some 676 ki8lometers – 318 Special and 358 Liaison - to Mengoub Bouarfa.
Rallye Du Maroc Stage 2 Results
1st – Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy/Honda) 3:23:44
2nd – Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda) + 1:19
4th – Pablo Quintanilla (Monster Energy/Honda) + 2:22
8th – Ignacio Cornejo (Monster Energy/Hero) + 8:51
Rallye Du Maroc Overall Standings
1st – Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy/Honda) 5:59:23
4th – Pablo Quintanilla (Monster Energy/Honda) + 8:23
5th – Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda) + 10:42
6th – Ross Branch (Monster Energy/Hero) + 11:51
8th – Ignacio Cornejo (Monster Energy/Hero) + 23:16
2024 FIM World Rally-Raid Championship (through 4 of 5 rounds)
Overall Standings
1st – Ross Branch (Monster Energy/Hero Motosports), 72 points
2nd – Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda HRC), 63 points
3rd - Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda HRC), 56 points
4th – Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy/Honda HRC), 45 points
5th – Pablo Quintanilla (Monster Energy/Honda HRC), 37 points
6th – Sebastian Buhler (Monster Energy/Hero Motosports), 29 points
7th – Jose “Nacho” Cornejo (Monster Energy/Hero Motosports), 28 points
8th – Skyler Howes (Monster Energy/Honda HRC), 26 points
9th – Aaron Mare (Monster Energy/Hero Motosports), 25 points