Tosha Schareina Wins Stage 3 | Rallye du Maroc
Monster Energy’s Tosha Schareina wins again at Morocco’s Rallye du Maroc; Jose Cornejo on the podium in 3rd place.
With an impressive Stage 3 win on Monday, Monster Energy’s Tosha Schareina (Team Honda) has nailed back-to-back stage victories at Morocco’s Rallye du Maroc, Round Five of the 2023 FIM World Rally Raid Championship. And joining Schareina on Monday’s podium was Monster Energy’s Jose Cornejo (Honda HRC Rally), who brought his CRF 450 Rally home in 3rd place.
With the win, Schareina moves into the top five overall in the Rallye du Maroc Motorcycle Rally division standings, behind Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally’s Pablo Quintanilla in 3rd place and Monster Energy’s Ross Branch (Hero Motorsports) in 2nd. All are chasing KTM’s Toby Price, who leads the division by 4:46 over Branch.
On Monday, Schareina topped Price, as he had the previous day. Schareina’s time of 3:03:35 put him over two minutes ahead of the KTM racer (3:05:43), with two stages remaining on the Rallye du Maroc.
Said Schareina: “Another day in the books! I try to push hard again, from the beginning to the end. I think this stage today was the fastest stage of the race to this moment. The first 200 ks was really, really good for me. After the refueling, I had a problem with the road book, so I did the last 50 ks with my hand (manually roll the directions road book, by hand, at speed). But yeah, we did it. We’re here in front today. Ready to push hard again tomorrow.”
Added Cornejo: “A good Stage 3. I was feeling comfortable since the beginning. I’m having a lot of fun on the bike. Been feeling better here in Morocco, pushed all day, trying to catch the guys in front – but they were pushing hard, too. So I gained a little time on them, but with the bonus, I still finished 3rd. I’m happy with my riding.”
Also making the top five for Monster Energy on Stage 3 were Pablo Quintanilla (Honda HRC Rally), who placed 4th, and Ross Branch (Hero Motorsports) in 5th.
Next up on Rallye du Maroc is Stage 4, which will run from Zagora to Merzouga – a 75 km road section with a 336 km Special Section, totaling 426 km.
Rallye du Maroc Results
Stage 3
1st – Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy/Team Honda)
3rd – Jose Cornejo (Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally)
4th – Pablo Quintanilla (Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally)
5th – Ross Branch (Monster Energy/Hero Motorsports)
8th – Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally)
Overall (after 3 of 5 stages)
2nd - Branch
3rd – Quintanilla
5th – Schareina
6th – Cornejo
8th – 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)
