W2RC Desafío Ruta 40 YPF INFINIA Stage 3 - BRABEC Calls the Shots
June 06, 2024
Ricky Brabec on his way to the Stage 3win in Argentina.
Image © Edoardo Bauer courtesy A.S.0./E.Bauer/DPPI
Stage 3 of the 12th edition of the Desafío Ruta 40 YPF INFINIA unfolded in a pure cross-country blaster around San Juan, a change of scenery following two rally-style stages.
Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy Honda) took his second win of the week in Rally GP and vaulted into the overall lead. Tosha Schareina is still second. The overnight leader, Adrien Van Beveren, slipped to the bottom step of an all-Honda podium. The world championship leader, Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports), is fifth.
In Rally 2, Romain Dumontier (Team Honda) triumphed over Bradley Cox (BAS World KTM Racing) again and retained the pole position. Fernando Hernández (MED Racing) also claimed a second consecutive win in Rally 3 and padded his lead. Manuel Andújar (7240 Team) struck again in the quad race and expanded his advantage to over an hour.
Tomorrow, the rally will head to La Rioja on a 676 km course, including 412 km against the clock.
Pablo Eli, the mastermind behind the route of the rally, had warned that stage 3 would be an absolute nightmare for navigation. Adrien Van Beveren, who started first after his win yesterday, paid the price, as did the Hero riders Ross Branch and Sebastian Bühler, who lost precious minutes searching for their bearings. The sixth man on the road, Ricky Brabec, avoided any errors. A true nail-biter at the halfway point, with three riders in a dead heat (!) at km 174, the special ultimately swung in the American's favour. He added a second success to his triumph in stage 1, while Honda swept the podium (see "FIM stat") with the biggest gaps seen all week: 3′27″ ahead of Skyler Howes and 3′38″ clear of Tosha Schareina. Van Beveren dropped 5′52″ and surrendered the overall lead to the stage winner. Brabec now leads Schareina by 1′34″, VBA by 3′38″ and Howes by 5′28″. Branch is fifth at 9′28″, but the Botswanan has leapfrogged his teammate Bühler and is poised to gain an extra point in the fight for the championship, which he currently leads. It could be a crucial point in the scrap for the riders' and manufacturers' titles, which increasingly seem destined to go down to the wire in Morocco…
The big kahunas of the Rally 2 class, Romain Dumontier and Bradley Cox, stayed glued together until the Frenchman made his move in the mad dash to the line. "Dudu" prevailed by 1′47″ and now leads his rival by 3′12″ in the overall.
In Rally 3, the seasoned Fernando Hernández (MED Racing) is slowly but steadily powering away from John Medina (Xraids Experience). Victorious today by 6′28″, the Argentinian now commands a 14′30″ lead over the Chilean, with Eduardo Alan still third.
