June 05, 2024

• The course of stage 2 from Córdoba to San Juan was billed as a fast one. Flirting with the speed limits was always going to be risky business and, sure enough, multiple competitors were slapped with penalties for speeding that impacted the results of the stage.

• Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy Honda) took the win in the Rally GP motorbikes and snatched the overall lead from Tosha Schareina by a mere 10 seconds. Their teammate Ricky Brabec rounded out an all-Honda podium in third place, 2′14″ down.

• In Rally 2, Romain Dumontier (Team Honda) won the special and took over the lead from Bradley Cox (BAS World KTM Racing) by 1′25″. Fernando Hernández (MED Racing) is the new Rally 3 leader. Meanwhile, Manuel Andújar (7240 Team) claimed the stage and padded his lead in the quad race.

• Tomorrow, stage 3 will take the field on a 478 km loop around the Circuito San Juan Villicum, including a 341 km special.

Back in the day, he had his heart set on bagging the Dakar in Argentina (see "Did you know"), but fate had other plans. He continues to chase his dream in the Saudi desert, but he still aspires to win a rally in South America. He was the first leader of the 2023 Desafío Ruta 40 before finishing just outside the W2RC podium. This time round, Adrien Van Beveren is playing it canny. After finishing fourth in the prologue and third in stage 1, today he turned on the afterburners on the road to San Juan. The Honda rider claimed the longest special of the event (423 km) ahead of his teammate Skyler Howes (+27″), the Hero of Sebastian Bühler (+1′09″) and the CRFs of Tosha Schareina (+1′39″) and Ricky Brabec (+3′42″). He also vaulted to the top of the leader board by 10 seconds over Schareina and 2′14″ over Brabec. The American triumphed in the Dakar and the Spaniard in Portugal, but the Frenchman has yet to taste victory this season. Honda are hogging the provisional podium, but Bühler and his Hero remain well within striking distance in fourth place, 2′34″ down.

HRC will have no regrets about betting on Romain Dumontier in Rally 2. "Dudu" followed up his win in the prologue with another stage win in San Juan, finishing 2′48″ ahead of Bradley Cox to snatch the overall lead right out of the South African's hands by 1′25″. Konrad Dąbrowski (Duust Rally) came in third on the day, while the Peruvian Ramiro Barco (Hero MotoSports) remains third overall, 51′04″ from the leader.

Fernando Hernández exacted revenge after a penalty cost him the win yesterday, bouncing back to defeat John Medina (Xraids Experience) in Rally 3 today. Hernández clinched the stage win by 4′15″ to move into top spot in the ranking, where the Argentinian now has a 1′20″ margin over the Chilean. His teammate Eduardo Alan rounds out the podium.