Ricky Brabec clinches final stage victory at South African Safari Rally
South AfricaRicky Brabec stormed through the final stage of this year’s South African Safari Rally, securing an impressive stage win to cap off the event.
The last day of rally-raid action in South Africa was shaping up to be a thrilling one, with all the Monster Energy Honda HRC riders pushing hard to grab a last-minute stage victory. With only 111 km of special stage remaining, there was no room for error across the expansive grasslands.
Brabec came out strong from the start setting the fastest time at the first checkpoint, with his teammates Skyler Howes and Adrien Van Beveren, hot on his heels, just one second behind. As the stage progressed, Brabec faced stiff competition from Daniel Sanders and Luciano Benavides and although he briefly lost the lead midway through, trailing by just eight seconds, he responded with a determined surge in the closing kilometres to reclaim the top spot and win the stage by 42 seconds.
It was a strong finish for the American, who not only took the stage victory but also secured third place overall claiming the final step on the podium.
Skyler Howes was competitive early on, navigating the gravel tracks with confidence. However, he eventually finished the stage in sixth place, 5’09” behind Brabec. Ending the rally in fifth overall and out of podium contention, Howes now turns his focus to training during the summer break ahead of the World Rally-Raid Championship’s return in September.
Adrien Van Beveren, who began the day with a slim 25-second advantage over Brabec for the final podium spot, was optimistic aboard his Honda CRF450 RALLY. Unfortunately, technical issues with his road book tablet caused significant delays. Struggling both to fix the device and to navigate without it, Van Beveren lost valuable time and ultimately finished the stage in eighth place. It was a frustrating end to his rally, dropping him off the podium by a margin of five minutes.
In the World Rally-Raid Championship standings, Ricky Brabec now leads the Honda charge with 53 points, placing him third overall. Adrien Van Beveren follows closely, just five points behind, while Skyler Howes holds sixth place with 35 points. After withdrawing from this rally, Tosha Schareina drops from second to fifth in the standings, now sitting on 46 points.
With the summer break ahead, the Monster Energy Honda HRC team will return to competition at the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal, scheduled for 22–28 September.
Today was quite good as we won the stage with Ricky, although it was disappointing for Adrien to experience problems with the road book tablet and Skyler also lost a little bit of time in one area to finish in sixth.
This rally was not perfect for our riders, Tosha crashed on the first day, Ricky had some problems and crashed on the marathon stage, Adrien also suffered with the navigation issues today and for Skyler, the terrain was not was he was used to, so the first few days were difficult for him to have the best set up. Overall, though it was good for Ricky to finish on the podium at this rally. Now we need to focus on Portugal in September, I hope Tosha recovers quickly and is back to full fitness soon. We will keep working to have a better result there.
Today was quite good as we won the stage with Ricky, although it was disappointing for Adrien to experience problems with the road book tablet and Skyler also lost a little bit of time in one area to finish in sixth.
This rally was not perfect for our riders, Tosha crashed on the first day, Ricky had some problems and crashed on the marathon stage, Adrien also suffered with the navigation issues today and for Skyler, the terrain was not was he was used to, so the first few days were difficult for him to have the best set up. Overall, though it was good for Ricky to finish on the podium at this rally. Now we need to focus on Portugal in September, I hope Tosha recovers quickly and is back to full fitness soon. We will keep working to have a better result there.
The day was good and the whole rally was pretty fun too. There was a lot of grass track racing, corners, fences and quick navigation to totally throw you off, so overall I’m happy to be at the finish line. Today we made a good push, it was a kind of difficult stage as it was only 111 km, but it was full ISDE Six Days style with the grass and the trees. We did a good job today, we pushed really big and really hard. We got some time back today but unfortunately we were just one minute shy of second on the podium ,so we’ll have to accept third for this rally and go and get them at the next one.
The day was good and the whole rally was pretty fun too. There was a lot of grass track racing, corners, fences and quick navigation to totally throw you off, so overall I’m happy to be at the finish line. Today we made a good push, it was a kind of difficult stage as it was only 111 km, but it was full ISDE Six Days style with the grass and the trees. We did a good job today, we pushed really big and really hard. We got some time back today but unfortunately we were just one minute shy of second on the podium ,so we’ll have to accept third for this rally and go and get them at the next one.
Well we made it to the finish line of the Safari Rally, it was a really fun event, a good experience and my first time here in South Africa. The organisation did a really good job of putting in a lot of effort, my team did an excellent job and my mechanic Mario, gave me a perfect bike for the entire week. I’m super happy to be a part of this team, everyone puts in so much effort. I didn’t nail it the first couple of stages and it hurt me on my times, but the last couple of days I was much better. I’ve just got to get back to work and that’s exactly what I’m doing, going to a nice training camp and working on some fitness, some bike speed and things like that. Then we go straight back to rally mode with navigation training and working on developing the rally bike to make it the best bike in the world. I’m looking forward to a very busy summer with the team and getting ready for Portugal, which is the next round and then Morocco and then it’ll be Dakar.
Well we made it to the finish line of the Safari Rally, it was a really fun event, a good experience and my first time here in South Africa. The organisation did a really good job of putting in a lot of effort, my team did an excellent job and my mechanic Mario, gave me a perfect bike for the entire week. I’m super happy to be a part of this team, everyone puts in so much effort. I didn’t nail it the first couple of stages and it hurt me on my times, but the last couple of days I was much better. I’ve just got to get back to work and that’s exactly what I’m doing, going to a nice training camp and working on some fitness, some bike speed and things like that. Then we go straight back to rally mode with navigation training and working on developing the rally bike to make it the best bike in the world. I’m looking forward to a very busy summer with the team and getting ready for Portugal, which is the next round and then Morocco and then it’ll be Dakar.
It was a tough day. I attacked a lot at the beginning, I felt good on the bike and was confident. At about 70 km into the stage my road book tablet froze. I had a red cross on the screen which showed there was an issue. I didn’t know how to solve it and tried to continue looking for the tracks, but there was a lot of grass so I couldn’t see them. I stopped because I didn’t know where to go and then I finally got the tablet to work again and was able to continue. It was a big amount of time lost, but it’s part of rally now I guess, so we’ll have to accept the situation and look forward to the next race.
It was a tough day. I attacked a lot at the beginning, I felt good on the bike and was confident. At about 70 km into the stage my road book tablet froze. I had a red cross on the screen which showed there was an issue. I didn’t know how to solve it and tried to continue looking for the tracks, but there was a lot of grass so I couldn’t see them. I stopped because I didn’t know where to go and then I finally got the tablet to work again and was able to continue. It was a big amount of time lost, but it’s part of rally now I guess, so we’ll have to accept the situation and look forward to the next race.
Rally GP Result - Stage 5
Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | BRABEC Ricky | 9 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | 01:23:17 |
2 | SANDERS Daniel | AUS | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | + 00:42 | |
3 | EVAN BRANCH Ross | 16 | BWA | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | + 02:06 |
4 | BENAVIDES Luciano | 1 | ARG | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | + 02:36 |
5 | COX Bradley | 49 | RSA | BAS DAKAR KTM RACING TEAM | KTM | + 03:48 |
6 | HOWES Skyler | 10 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 05:09 |
7 | CORNEJO FLORIMO José Ignacio | 11 | CHI | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | + 06:06 |
8 | VAN BEVEREN Adrien | 42 | FRA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 06:12 |
Rally GP Provisional Standings After Stage 5
Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | SANDERS Daniel | AUS | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | 13:27:44 | |
2 | BENAVIDES Luciano | 1 | ARG | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | + 08:55 |
3 | BRABEC Ricky | 9 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 10:00 |
4 | VAN BEVEREN Adrien | 42 | FRA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 15:47 |
5 | HOWES Skyler | 10 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 35:48 |
6 | CORNEJO FLORIMO José Ignacio | 11 | CHI | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | + 46:02 |
7 | COX Bradley | 49 | RSA | BAS DAKAR KTM RACING TEAM | KTM | + 01:00:02 |
8 | EVAN BRANCH Ross | 16 | BWA | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | + 01:55:19 |
