A shift in fortunes allowed Monster Energy Honda HRC’s Ricky Brabec to rise up the rankings, capitalising on a tough day in the dunes for lead-out rider Tosha Schareina, who slipped down in the overall standings.
Spending a windy night under the stars at the Al Qua’a marathon camp, 394 km stood between the Honda riders and a reunion with the rest of the Monster Energy Honda HRC team back at the Mezaira’a bivouac. With 300 km of timed action ahead on stage four, the riders faced fewer dunes today, but the terrain remained challenging, providing plenty of opportunities to test their skills.
After enjoying the camaraderie at camp last night, second-place finisher Adrien Van Beveren had his best stage of the rally so far, maintaining pressure on Sanders throughout. The three-time Enduropale du Touquet beach race winner also surged up the overall standings, moving from sixth to fourth and is still within a shot of the podium, with only 21 seconds between him and Luciano Benavides.
Ricky Brabec, now fully fit, has consistently been amongst the front-runners in the Arabian desert and today he continued to close the gap overall. After catching up to teammate Tosha Schareina on the stage, Brabec posted the fourth-fastest time and leapfrogged Luciano Benavides to claim the provisional runner up spot. Though over seven minutes behind Sanders, the American rider will give it his all tomorrow, aiming for a dramatic last-minute victory, with the added advantage of not having to open the stage.
Despite another top-five finish, Skyler Howes struggled with technical issues on his Honda CRF450 RALLY during the longest stage of the rally, which hampered his pace. He was relieved to reach the finish line and is now focused on tomorrow’s final day of racing.
After regaining the lead in the overall standings yesterday, Tosha Schareina knew he faced a tough challenge as the first rider to take on the penultimate stage of this year’s Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. The rally-raid’s unpredictable nature continued and Schareina’s bid for overall victory took a significant hit during the final section of the marathon stage. Just 50 kilometres into the day’s timed section, he got lost and despite his best efforts to recover, the setback was substantial. He lost 10’36” to stage winner Daniel Sanders, which caused him to drop from first to fifth in the overall standings. It was a tough day for the Spaniard, however, he will push for a strong finish on the final stage.
A final showdown is shaping up in the desert tomorrow at the second round of the World Rally-Raid Championship as the route will snake its way toward the dazzling lights and towering skyscrapers of Abu Dhabi. With just 167 km remaining against the clock, the finish line will soon come into view, where one rider will emerge as the 2025 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge champion.
Ruben Faria
General Manager
The second day of the marathon stage was not what we planned or expected, but it was difficult for Tosha to open today and he lost quite a lot of time to Daniel Sanders, who started further back. Ricky did a good stage, he caught the front runners 30km from the end so he then was opening the road which means the speeds go down and Daniel was able to gain a little more time on Ricky. Adrien did a good job today as did Skyler.
Tomorrow, we still have a good chance to win and it depends on how difficult the stage is. Daniel will open and Ricky will start fourth, so he will be nine minutes behind him and able to push. For Tosha, it is a bit more difficult, but still possible. We will our cross fingers and do our best, we expect a minimum two riders on the podium and if we can win, then this is the goal
Ricky Brabec 9
STAGE: 4TH OVERALL: 2ND
The marathon stage is never supposed to be easy, yesterday was a true battle and it was so windy. We finished at midday and the wind was insane, just sand blowing everywhere. It was difficult to kind of do anything so we just hung out in the wind with our goggles on.
After a good night’s rest we had a big day today and I was trying to push as hard as I can to get to the front and to get some bonus time. Unfortuntely it took me almost all the stage to catch up and then I made good time on Tosha, but only made three minutes on Luciano who also got the bonuses. Near the end it was a little bit dusty, I managed to get in front of them and tried to gap them a little bit to get some seconds but it didn’t work. With one day to go I’m super happy.
Skyler Howes 10
STAGE: 5TH OVERALL: 7TH
It was cool where we camped out last night, those dunes were really epic. The giant red sand dunes were really fun to ride but today was about managing to get through the day with some technical issues. It’s part of rally racing, it’s part of the strategy and you just have to adapt to every single day and make sure that you get to the finish line of the rally. We will regroup and push on for tomorrow.
Adrien Van Beveren 42
STAGE: 2ND OVERALL: 4TH
It was good to be together yesterday, this is the good thing about the marathon as we got to hang out in the afternoon and we had a good time. Today I tried to push, I’m not feeling slow but racing is giving your best and it’s really important to have no regrets when you go back home. I made up some time but let’s see how it all pans out tomorrow.
Tosha Schareina 68
STAGE: 7TH OVERALL: 5TH
It was definitely the worst day to open the stage as it was so tricky. I made a navigation mistake 50km in, Luciano caught me and we rode together to the finish line along with Ricky, who had also caught us. I definitely think I did a bad strategy in this rally opening this stage, but it’s part of the game and we will try again tomorrow.
Rally GP Result – Stage 4
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Time/Gap
1 SANDERS Daniel AUS KTM Factory Racing Team 02:51:14
2 VAN BEVEREN Adrien 42 FRA Monster Energy Honda HRC + 03:23
3 CORNEJO FLORIMO José Ignacio 11 CHI Hero Motorsports Team Rally + 04:52
4 BRABEC Ricky 9 USA Monster Energy Honda HRC + 05:55
5 HOWES Skyler 10 USA Monster Energy Honda HRC + 07:13
6 BENAVIDES Luciano 1 ARG KTM Factory Racing Team + 08:08
7 SCHAREINA Tosha 68 SPA Monster Energy Honda HRC + 10:36
Rally GP Provisional Standings After Stage 4
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Time/Gap
1 SANDERS Daniel AUS KTM Factory Racing Team 12:14:22
2 BRABEC Ricky 9 USA Monster Energy Honda HRC + 07:23
3 BENAVIDES Luciano 1 ARG KTM Factory Racing Team + 08:46
4 VAN BEVEREN Adrien 42 FRA Monster Energy Honda HRC + 09:07
5 SCHAREINA Tosha 68 SPA Monster Energy Honda HRC + 09:11
6 CORNEJO FLORIMO José Ignacio 11 CHI Hero Motorsports Team Rally + 09:37
7 HOWES Skyler 10 USA Monster Energy Honda HRC + 15:59
