Schareina Dominates Desafio Ruta 40
T
he 11th running of the De-
safio Ruta 40 is back on the
World Rally-Raid Championship
schedule after a five-year hiatus.
The Argentina stop is the penulti-
mate round in the series with five
stages totaling over 1800 miles
in distance. Tosha Schareina
claimed the overall win, while
Argentina-native Luciano Bena
-
vides overtook the championship
points lead.
Schareina claimed his first
major rally win after leading the
race all week long. The Spaniard,
who's not yet an official HRC
team rider, rode a near-perfect
race, winning three of the five
stages throughout the week and
nailing the crucial time bonuses
along the way. He only finished
outside the top five on stage five,
but that didn't matter due to his
over 10-minute lead on second-
place Benavides.
"No words," Schareina said.
"Victory in Desafio Ruta 40! It's
been a perfect week. Today I was
able to give back a little of all
that effort that the people behind
you make for me. This is yours."
Luciano Benavides stayed in
the hunt and rode a smart sec
-
ond place for most of the week.
He claimed the win on stage
four, but the big momentum
swing came when champion-
ship rival, Toby Price, suffered a
rear shock failure on stage two.
Price's mechanical dropped him
over an hour behind Benavides,
allowing the Argentinian to
cruise the rest of the rally with
-
out much pressure. Benavides
followed Schareina for most
of the week and finished 11:36
back on overall time. He's now
the leader in the W2RC points
standings.
"I'm really, really happy," said
Benavides. "It's been an amaz
-
ing race here in Argentina and
to finish the race as leader of
the world championship is truly
something incredible. So now
it's time to celebrate a little bit, a
few days of rest, and then focus
on Morocco because I want to
do well there and make history
as world champion."
Ricky Brabec took third in the
overall rankings. The Factory
Honda rider was arguably the
fastest bike on course during
the five-stage rally, but speed
penalties and missing the critical
time bonuses dropped him in the
overall. Brabec voiced his dislike
of the bonus system, but still
finished third on allotted time,
just over 20 minutes back.
"It was a good week with a
brutal first day," said Brabec. "It
feels good to be back in South
America, and after this week I
think I am looking forward to
coming back here next year.
Today it was a close stage that
I almost won, but then I got a
penalty."
CN
OVERALL
1. Tosha Schareina (Hon) 15:58:46
2. Luciano Benavides (Hus) +11:36
3. Ricky Brabec (Hon) +21:16
4. Ross Branch (Her) +26:45
5. Adrien Van Beveren (Hon) +28:52
WIND
IN THE
P60
Honda's Tosha
Schareina (center)
celebrates the Desafio
Ruta 40 win alongside
runner-up Luciano
Benavides (right)
and Ricky Brabec.
