2024 Desafío Ruta 40
With KTM pulling out of most Rally races worldwide, Honda is cleaning up. Just 15 seconds separated Dakar 2024 winners Ricky Brabec and Tosha Schareina after 18 hours of rallying across Argentina in a colossal battle to the finish line on their Honda CRF450 Rally machine.
Brabec took Honda’s 10th victory at Argentina’s Desafio Ruta 40 as Honda swept the podium 1-2-3, the first manufacturer to do so in the Championship’s history World Rally-Raid as the Monster Energy Honda Team won every stage of the series. The rally.
Ruben Faria – Monster Energy Honda Racing Team
“It was an incredible rally for the Monster Energy Honda Team as our riders took the top four positions and sixth overall, which is something that hasn’t happened in a long time in the rally love. I’m really pleased with the whole team, they did a great job and it was a great performance from the riders on the Honda CRF450 Rally, excellent performance all week long to give us this great result weekend. I want to thank all the team for the great work they did, all the people in Japan working on the bikes and the riders too.”
Today’s rally culminated in a fierce contest between the Americans and Spaniards as Brabec started the stage 1’27” ahead in the overall standings this morning, with Tosha first to the start compete on a 218 km stage; As the defending champion, the Spaniard will make a valiant effort to reclaim the spoils. He immediately turned back the clock in the early parts of the race, cutting Brabec’s lead to just 22 seconds at one point, making the final 100km run to the finish the highlight of the whole thing rally as the finish line is on the horizon in Cordoba.
Schareina crossed the finish line for his second consecutive stage win of the week, adding to his opening win, but it was not enough to hold off Brabec who, with a gap of 1’12”, held firmly in final position. Lead and win. After only claiming the Rally Raid Dakar Rally crown this year, it means Brabec has taken two wins from two starts in 2024.
Adrien Van Beveren completed his fourth Honda race in the Desafio Ruta 40 of 2024 after consistently high results all week. The Frenchman won the stage and took third place on the final podium.
Skyler Howes had an outside chance of reaching the podium, but although he had a perfect run, he finished the day in sixth place, which placed him fourth overall, becoming his highest ever finish for Honda.
Pablo Quintanilla encountered some difficulties during the week with varying terrain and difficult navigation, but he had a positive final day to cross the finish line in fifth place having passed five riders from Monster Energy Honda Team to enter the top six of the overall standings.
After five long days and 3,200 km of cycling, Daniel Sanders finished the race in ninth place overall. From Chucky’s impressive fourth stage result to Sam Sunderland’s unfortunate early departure, it has certainly been a journey for the Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing team this week.
Daniel Sanders
“So day five is over and we’re done. Of course it wasn’t an ideal result, but I’m happy to have finished and we certainly learned a lot. I’ve had to do a lot of work over the past two months while training at home, so I felt like I was fully prepared when I came here. Unfortunately I couldn’t make the most of this week, but we’ll keep working hard and I’m looking forward to continuing racing!”
Andreas Hölzl – Racing team director
“It was a tough week for us, but we’re happy that Daniel made it to the finish line safely and managed a pretty solid result after everything. However, for now we are fully focused on the Rallye du Maroc and Dakar. We will continue to work hard as a team and get back to where we know we need to be.”
In the World Rally Championship standings, Ricky Brabec has moved up to second place, just nine points behind leader Ross Branch, with Adrien Van Beveren seven points behind. Meanwhile, in the manufacturer standings, Honda has returned to the top spot as the battle for the championship gets underway at the Rallye du Morocco in October.
Desafío Ruta 40 2024
- BRABEC Ricky 9 USA Monster Energy Honda Team Honda 18:08:37
- SCHAREINA Tosha 68 SPA Monster Energy Honda Team Honda + 00:15
- VAN BEVEREN Adrien 42 FRA Monster Energy Honda Team Honda + 05:33
- HOWES Skyler 10 USA Monster Energy Honda Team Honda + 12:58
- EVAN Ross BRANCH 16 BWA Hero Motorsports Team Rally Hero + 14:57
- QUINTANILLA Pablo 7 CHI Monster Energy Honda Team Honda + 23:55
9. Daniel Sanders (GASGAS) 18:58:08
FIM World Rally Championship
- Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports): 72 points
- Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy Honda): 63 points (-9)
- Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy Honda): 56 points (-16)
