Team made up of father and three sons celebrates result in the face of difficulties

The eighth stage of the 32nd edition of the Sertões Rally, which took place on Saturday (31) between Goiás and the Federal District and brought the competition to a close, earned Bruno Varela and Ari Fiuza third place on the overall podium in the UTV class. Rodrigo Varela and Matheus Mazzei also made the podium in the final special, coming in second place in today's competition. The achievements rounded off a rally of ups and downs for the “Dust Family”, as the team formed by the father, world champion Reinaldo Varela, and the three sons: Bruno, Rodrigo and Gabriel, is known.

The Dust Family's journey was marked by significant challenges, ranging from victories defined by seconds of difference to technical problems and accidents. Despite the situations that took away the chance of victory, the Varela Can-AM Monster Energy team considers that the 2024 Sertões Rally had a positive balance.

Rodrigo and Matheus opened the rally with a victory and, during the first stages, fought for the top spot. However, an accident on stage 4 caused the Maverick R #102 to be abandoned on that special. Even though they had no chance of overall victory due to the accident, the duo continued to compete on the other days of the rally. The result came with another victory in the sixth stage and second place in today's 133 km timed stage, won by Zé Hélio and Júlio Cesar Zavatti.

Bruno and Ari, who won one stage and three other top-five finishes in the special stages, were looking strong for the Sertões title with the Maverick R #110. The duo arrived at the penultimate stage with a few seconds to spare and everything seemed to be heading for a good fight in the final stretch. But rallying is always an unpredictable competition: the car had mechanical problems and they lost twenty minutes on the leaders. Despite this, they managed to take third place on the podium in the overall standings. The champions were Denísio do Nascimento and Gunnar Dums.

In addition to Bruno and Rodrigo, their brother Gabriel Varela was also in the race, along with navigator Guilherme Holanda. They ended up closing the first day of the competition with a crash that damaged the Maverick X3 #121, causing problems for the entire rally.

The Dust Family also counted on the participation of its most experienced and respected name, the father, Reinaldo Varela. Along with Túlio Taniguchi, the world champion and three-time Rally dos Sertões champion faced days of mechanical problems with the Maverick R #120, but managed to achieve good placings in the UTV Over Pro category, such as second place in stage 6.

The Varela's continue to race in the Brazilian Rally Raid, which will hold its next stage in Tocantins, between October 8 and 12.

Info: Automatic translation of the Brazilian Portuguese version
Source: Varela Racing Team / BestPR
Photo:  Vinicius Branca/Fotop

Top-5 da 8ª especial, de um total de 8, Formosa (GO) até Brasília (DF), 133 km
1º Zé Hélio / Julio Cesar Zavatti - Zé e os Caras, 1h30min41s62
2º Rodrigo Varela / Ari Fiuza - Varela Can-AM Monster Energy, + 23s29
3º Tomas Luza / Flávio França - Cotton Racing, + 40s22
4º Denísio Casarini / Bruno Rezende - Can-AM Factory, + 49s89
5º Francesco Franciosi / Egon Franciosi - Cotton Racing, +

Top-5 da categoria UTV da 32ª edição do Rally dos Sertões
1º Denísio do Nascimento / Gunnar Dums - Bompack Racing, 28h50min06s62
2º Zé Hélio / Julio Cesar Zavatti - Zé e os Caras, + 17min36s38
3º Bruno Varela / Ari Fiuza - Varela Can-AM Monster Energy, + 23min31s55
4º Tomas Luza / Flávio França - Cotton Racing, + 26min58s05
5º Felipe Fraga / Eduardo Bampi - Dango Racing, +29min32s44