Brabec Wins Desafio Ruta 40 Rally
T
he Monster Energy Honda
Rally Team was in full force
at the Desafio Ruta 40 Rally in
Argentina, June 2-5, and came
away with a podium lockout
after five days of competition.
American Ricky Brabec stood on
the top step, flanked by team
-
mate Tosha Schareina, who was
the runner-up, and Adrien Van
Beveren. In the end, just 15 sec-
onds separated winner Brabec
from Schareina. Van Beveren
was another five minutes back.
American Skyler Howes made
it all Hondas in the top four.
Howes was approximately 13
minutes behind his winning
American teammate.
The first non-Honda was Ross
Branch of the Hero Motorsports
Team. Branch rounded out the
top five, while Honda Pablo Quin
-
tanilla was sixth overall.
"It's been a big final week, it's
been stressful, but it's good to be
back," Brabec said after the final
stage. "The team rode well, the
mechanics did a good job, and
so I think we're in great shape
heading to Morocco. It was a
great day, although it was stress
-
ful, as I didn't want to lose all
the time I'd made up, and Tosha
put some time on me today,
as he's good at this road-style
rallying, and I'm not the best at
it. But I tried my best not to lose
too much time, and in the end,
everything came out pretty well.
This has been a good confidence
booster moving forward, so I'll
be happy to get home and do
some more testing with the bike
and make it another level better."
Honda is the first manufac
-
turer to sweep a podium in World
Rally-Raid Championship history
as the Monster Energy Honda
Team won every rally stage. KTM
did not field a factory team in
this year's Desafio Ruta 40 Rally.
In the World Rally-Raid Cham-
pionship standings, Ricky Brabec
has propelled himself up to
second, just nine points behind
the leader Branch, with Van Bev-
eren a further seven points back.
Meanwhile, in the manufacturer
standings, Honda is back on top
as the championship battle re-
sumes with the Rallye du Maroc
in October.
CN
OVERALL (Top 5)
1. Ricky Brabec (Hon) 18:08:37
2. Tosha Schareina (Hon) + 00:15
3. Adrien Van Beveren (Hon) + 05:33
4. Skyler Howes (Hon) + 12:58
5. Ross Branch (Her) + 14:57
WIND
IN THE
P40
Ricky Brabec edged
out Honda teammate
Tosha Schareina by
15 seconds overall
to win the Desafio
Ruta 40 Rally in
Argentina. Adrien
Van Beveren made
it an all-Honda
podium.
