Rally Raid Portugal 2024: Schareina victorious
The finish of the third round of the season in Portugal brought the championship into its second part.
Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy Honda) won the Rally GP motorbike race ahead of Sebastian Bühler (Hero MotoSports) and Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy Honda). Ross Branch retained his championship lead, as did Hero in the manufacturers' ranking, albeit with a reduced margin over Honda.
Bradley Cox (BAS World KTM Racing) beat Romain Dumontier (Dumontier Racing) and Mathieu Dovèze (BAS World KTM Racing) to the line in the Rally 2 motorbike race. Dumontier vaulted into the championship lead.
Gonçalo Amaral conquered the first round on the Rally 3 calendar ahead of his brother Salvador and the grizzled Pedro Bianchi Prata.
Kamil Wiśniewski prevailed over Antanas Kanopkinas and Gaëtan Martinez, riding Chinese-made CFMoto quads, in the quad race. Manuel Andújar managed to defend his championship lead despite a mechanical.
The championship will now head to Argentina for the Desafío Ruta 40 from 1 to 7 June.
SCHAREINA TRIUMPHANT AND VBA ASCENDANT
Commanding the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal from the get-go and bagging stages 1 and 3, Tosha Schareina found himself in the enviable position of managing the 105 km curtain-closer around Grândola. With more than 4 minutes to spare over his closest rival, Sebastian Bühler, heading into the finale, the Spaniard could have eased up a bit… but that is not his style! He came oh-so-close to claiming the top spot, only to see his Monster Energy Honda teammate, Adrien Van Beveren, snatch it away. The Frenchman was on a mission to finish in style and become the record holder in FIM specials won in W2RC. Mission accomplished, with 13 under his belt, thanks to his victory over Schareina by 15 seconds. By taking the rally honours, the Valencian joined a select club as the tenth different rider to claim a W2RC round since 2022. Bühler landed second place, trailing by 4′38″, and secured his best-ever result in Portugal, where he moved from Germany when he was three months old. Van Beveren (+ 14′50″) played a blinder today, snatching the last podium spot from his Monster Energy Honda teammate Skyler Howes (+ 17′50″), who soldiered on to cross the finish line after taking a tumble. Coming in fifth at 20′19″, Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) struggled on the non-desert terrain, which seemed more suited to his rivals. The Botswanan held onto the championship reins with 61 points, but there is a new challenger in town: Van Beveren (40 points), who trimmed his deficit from 26 points to 21. The Frenchman now leads an HRC cavalry charge, with Ricky Brabec third (38 points), Pablo Quintanilla fourth (27 points) and Schareina breaking into the standings in fifth place (25 points). Hero maintained their lead in the manufacturers' table with 106 points, but Monster Energy Honda is hot on their heels, just 3 points adrift. With the halfway point now in the rear-view mirror, the title race is wide open on both fronts.
In Rally 2, Bradley Cox bagged his first W2RC win of the year, clocking in ahead of the French duo Romain Dumontier by 5′32″ and Mathieu Dovèze by 8′06″. The South African wrested control of the overall standings in stage 3 and never looked back, keeping the throttle pinned even when "Dudu" turned up the heat today. The reigning champion in the category scored a double whammy by winning stage 5 and soaring back to the top of the championship ranking, deposing Jean-Loup Lepan (Duust Rally), fourth this week. Just 3 points separate Dumontier (58 points), Lepan (57 points) and Cox (55 points), with Duust Rally's Konrad Dąbrowski (47 points) also within striking distance 11 points back. Edge-of-the-seat action as we rev up for the Argentinian showdown in a few weeks!
The Rally 3 class, reserved for enduro motorbikes adapted to rally raids, kicked off its 2024 campaign in Portugal. Four home-grown talents were in the mix, and three of them served up a podium that was pure Portuguese pride! Gonçalo Amaral produced a dominant performance to claim the rally by 9′51″ over his brother Salvador, who clinched the finale. After a nail-biting tussle with John Medina, Pedro Bianchi Prata nabbed third place by 14 seconds over the Chilean. The rally standings mirror the championship leader board, with all eyes now on the Desafío Ruta 40 in June.
Gonçalo Amaral
Just like in Rally GP, the quads have a fresh W2RC victor on the scene. Setting off this morning with the CFMoto duo of Antanas Kanopkinas and Gaëtan Martinez breathing down his neck, both 2′28″ adrift, Kamil Wiśniewski held his nerve to claim victory with a 5′49″ gap over the Lithuanian and 6′19″ over the Frenchman. Having led from the front since day one until km 198 of stage 4, when a mechanical and a crash threw a spanner in the works, Manuel Andújar salvaged some pride by clinching the final stage win. It was not enough to improve on his fourth-place overall finish, but sufficient to maintain his championship lead with 51 points. That is 14 points more than Kanopkinas (37 points), who took over from Hani Alnoumesi (34 points) as the provisional runner-up.
Source: W2RC / A.S.O.
Photos: Rally-Raid Network / ImagensDesportivas
Helder
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