Van Beveren Takes Desafio Ruta 40 Prologue
T
he 11th running of the Desafio
Ruta 40 is back on the World
Rally-Raid Championship sched
-
ule after a five-year hiatus. The
Argentina stop is the penultimate
round in the series with five stages
totaling over 3000 km (1864 mi) in
distance. Only nine points sepa-
rate the top three riders with Toby
Price leading the overall points
standings. Honda's Adrien Van
Beveren fired the first shot of the
rally with the prologue win.
The initial prologue set the
stage for the rally and consisted
of an 18-mile liaison along with
a 5.59-mile special. Van Beveren,
who's third in the champion
-
ship, won with a time of 6:48. He
bested the home-country hero,
Luciano Benavides by just one
second with American Ricky
Brabec another second back in
third. The top 10 riders were only
separated by 15 seconds in total.
With the win, Van Beveren
chooses his start position for stage
one. He elected to leave ninth,
three minutes behind Benavides.
"Overall, I had a good feeling
during this prologue," said Van
Beveren. "I enjoy this kind of
track, it's technical and slippery.
It was easy to make mistakes,
I made only one when I entered
too fast on a corner."
Stage one is the official start
of the rally with a 224-mile liai
-
son and a 207-mile special.
CN
WIND
IN THE
P36
Desafio Ruta 40 Prologue Highlights
Honda's Adrien
Van Beveren got
things started at
the Desafio Ruta 40
Rally with a win in
the prologue.
