Tosha Schareina sets the pace on a tricky Desafío Ruta 40 Prologue
Desafio Ruta 40
The fourth round of the 2024 World Rally-Raid Championship got underway in Argentina today with the prologue for the Monster Energy Honda Team riders with defending Desafío Ruta 40 champion Tosha Schareina straight on the pace over the difficult test as weather conditions decided to throw a curveball into proceedings.
There was a total 165km of riding with just 17km for the timed section as the competitors followed in the footsteps of the World Rally Championship taking in the surroundings of the legendary El Cóndor to Copina route. Marked by two suspension bridges, the technical prologue tackled a gravel mountain track and although it was a short distance compared to the longer stages coming up this week, it still required a high level of concentration to not get caught out by the tricky, narrow bridge crossings, small cliffs and also thick fog.
Despite struggling with terribly poor visibility Tosha completed the special fastest in 16 minutes 45 seconds aboard his Honda CRF450 RALLY. Just two seconds separated him from the 2024 Dakar winner, Ricky Brabec, who opted to remove his goggles during the special so he could actually see. Having never ridden in so much fog before, Adrien Van Beveren was 46 seconds back in fourth while Skyler Howes kept his goggles on to finish sixth and Pablo Quintanilla who struggled to see some of the tracks was in seventh.
With that difficult day now over the first proper full day of rally action will head out of Córdoba tomorrow on a northern loop before returning to the bivouac after a total 509 kilometres 381km of which will make up the mainly gravel fast and winding tracks of the special.
It was a longer than usual prologue today and all the riders said that if the weather hadn’t been so bad, it would have been a really nice prologue as it was really technical, there were elevation changes, really tight and long corners too. It was really good to begin with a first and second for Tosha and Ricky and so we are in a good position to start this round in Argentina.
It was a longer than usual prologue today and all the riders said that if the weather hadn’t been so bad, it would have been a really nice prologue as it was really technical, there were elevation changes, really tight and long corners too. It was really good to begin with a first and second for Tosha and Ricky and so we are in a good position to start this round in Argentina.
Honestly, the prologue was super difficult, it was very foggy at the beginning so it was difficult to see the tracks and I struggled to work out where the piste was going. Only the last four kilometres were nice to ride and I’m glad I had no real issues heading into tomorrow’s stage.
Honestly, the prologue was super difficult, it was very foggy at the beginning so it was difficult to see the tracks and I struggled to work out where the piste was going. Only the last four kilometres were nice to ride and I’m glad I had no real issues heading into tomorrow’s stage.
This was the first event after the Dakar, so it was good to be back despite the poor visibility and cold weather, two of my least favourite things, but we managed to do pretty well. I took my goggles off right at the start and it felt like crying for 17 kilometres as the moisture, air and fog were making my eyeballs all wet. I made two mistakes, one wasn’t so severe, but the second I overshot one corner which was easy to do in a prologue like this. The result in the end was pretty good so I’m happy with that and looking forward to the next five days and hopefully it warms up.
This was the first event after the Dakar, so it was good to be back despite the poor visibility and cold weather, two of my least favourite things, but we managed to do pretty well. I took my goggles off right at the start and it felt like crying for 17 kilometres as the moisture, air and fog were making my eyeballs all wet. I made two mistakes, one wasn’t so severe, but the second I overshot one corner which was easy to do in a prologue like this. The result in the end was pretty good so I’m happy with that and looking forward to the next five days and hopefully it warms up.
I probably wish I could have done better but I couldn’t see, so I couldn’t go any faster. A lot of the other guys took their goggles off, I didn’t really want to make that decision, I knew that I didn’t want to damage my eyes so kept them on and just kept wiping them but we were in the fog for the majority of the prologue. It was super difficult, really slippery and we were on a mountain, so if you got it wrong, or didn’t break in time for the corner, because you didn’t see it, you would slide off a cliff, so I just took it easy and got through it. We’re going to head into stage one positively and take each day at a time.
I probably wish I could have done better but I couldn’t see, so I couldn’t go any faster. A lot of the other guys took their goggles off, I didn’t really want to make that decision, I knew that I didn’t want to damage my eyes so kept them on and just kept wiping them but we were in the fog for the majority of the prologue. It was super difficult, really slippery and we were on a mountain, so if you got it wrong, or didn’t break in time for the corner, because you didn’t see it, you would slide off a cliff, so I just took it easy and got through it. We’re going to head into stage one positively and take each day at a time.
We had a tough prologue, the track was looking good but we had a lot of fog, I’ve never ridden in that much fog, visibility was so tricky. I tried my best but I was not even pushing as I was trying to see where to go and I should have taken off my goggles. But I will focus on tomorrow and the rest of the rally.
We had a tough prologue, the track was looking good but we had a lot of fog, I’ve never ridden in that much fog, visibility was so tricky. I tried my best but I was not even pushing as I was trying to see where to go and I should have taken off my goggles. But I will focus on tomorrow and the rest of the rally.
We’ve taken the first place here in the prologue, but the first few kilometres were super scary for everybody with no visibility. I pushed during the last four kilometres and so we did well to take the quickest time.
We’ve taken the first place here in the prologue, but the first few kilometres were super scary for everybody with no visibility. I pushed during the last four kilometres and so we did well to take the quickest time.
RallyGP Results - Prologue
Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | SCHAREINA Tosha | 68 | SPA | Monster Energy Honda Team | Honda | 16:45 |
2 | BRABEC Ricky | 9 | USA | Monster Energy Honda Team | Honda | +0:02 |
3 | EVAN BRANCH Ross | 16 | BWA | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | +0:28 |
4 | VAN BEVEREN Adrien | 42 | FRA | Monster Energy Honda Team | Honda | +0:46 |
5 | BÜHLER Sebastian | POR | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | +0:49 | |
6 | HOWES Skyler | 10 | USA | Monster Energy Honda Team | Honda | +1:04 |
7 | QUINTANILLA Pablo | 7 | CHI | Monster Energy Honda Team | Honda | +1:07 |
8 | CORNEJO FLORIMO José Ignacio | 11 | CHI | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | +1:37 |
