Tosha Schareina shines on Dakar’s fourth stage to climb up to second place
Dakar Rally in Saudi ArabiaThere was a shuffle in the overall standings of this year’s Dakar Rally as Tosha Schareina sped across the Saudi Arabian desert to take a hard earned second place on the stage while also mounting a fight back in the overall classification to also be second, just 13’26” behind the leader.
It was a very cold morning for the Monster Energy Honda HRC riders as they headed out of Al Henakiyah onto the marathon stage of this year’s Dakar Rally. The staggering rock formations on the way to AlUla would provide a technical day on the volcanic rock tracks as they made their way north across the 415km special towards the heart of Saudi Arabia’s UNESCO World Heritage site.
Tosha Schareina managed to keep on top of today’s navigation amongst the winding tracks and stony off-piste sections after starting further down the back from yesterday’s finishing position but he took full advantage of that opportunity to post an impressive second best time of day, just 15 seconds shy of stage winner Daniel Sanders. It was an encouraging day for the Valencian rider who has reaffirmed himself as a strong contender for this Dakar.
It’s not been the best of starts on this Dakar Rally for Adrien Van Beveren as he’s had two crashes with his most recent one yesterday but the Frenchman has valiantly soldiered on to the finish, determined to keep himself amongst the frontrunners. Today’s stage saw him arrive in AlUla with the fourth fastest time as he now joins the group of his teammates Skyler Howes, Ricky Brabec and Pablo Quintanilla vying for a podium spot in the general standings.
Pablo Quintanilla arrived exhausted to the marathon bivouac in eighth as he rode for 400km of special stage with arm pump, as did Skyler Howes who was also surprised to suffer with too it after four hours of riding. It was a not the best of days for the American as he lost twenty minutes to drop him 27’01” back off Sanders.
The ups and downs of rally-raids were a reminder to Ricky Brabec today as he opened the way from just three kilometres into the stage meaning it was a long day out front for the 2024 Dakar Rally winner and but for a mistake with just 15 kilometres remaining, it saw him unfortunately lose nearly twenty minutes. Although remaining upbeat and happy to get to the end of the marathon stage he is now 29’13” off the overall leader in fifth. Setting off in 17th position to complete the marathon stage tomorrow, he will look to gain the upper hand of a later start slot to win back some precious minutes.
Upon arrival at AlUla the riders had just 30 minutes to work on their bikes before they’re tucked away in Parc Fermé for the night when the marathon stage will resume as the route heads east to Ha’il on a 428km special stage. After what has been a very long week after the 48 Hour Chrono and this marathon stage, the riders will be able to relax with the rest day on Friday and enable the Monster Energy Honda HRC to give the Honda CRF450 RALLY a full service.
We’ve finished the first day of the marathon stage and we knew it was a stage that would not only have difficult navigation, but also for the bike tyres there would be a lot of stones in the first part. It was not a day for strategy, what we wanted from the riders was their arrival in the marathon bivouac at AlUla with no crashes and the bikes in good condition, which they achieved. Ricky and Skyler had a difficult role today which was opening the stage. Ricky did really well until 80 kilometres from the finish when a navigation error caused him to lose some valuable time. Pablo and Adrien started amongst the middle group of riders, I think Adrien could have won back a bit more time but it was not possible for him today. Tosha started further back with Daniel Sanders and near the end of the stage Tosha slowed down so that he can start behind Daniel tomorrow. It was not our strategy but he did it, maybe it’ll work in his favour tomorrow.
It’s a long stage, over 400 kilometres again and we think that there will be a lot of navigation, I hope that Tosha can save the bike, not lose more time to Daniel and arrive to the rest day ready to think about the strategy for the second week. Ricky, Skyler, Adrien and Pablo need to push tomorrow to recover some time that they lost today, this is the goal.
All our riders are still in the race, which is great. Tomorrow is a long day, so let’s see how the second day of the marathon stage pans out.
We’ve finished the first day of the marathon stage and we knew it was a stage that would not only have difficult navigation, but also for the bike tyres there would be a lot of stones in the first part. It was not a day for strategy, what we wanted from the riders was their arrival in the marathon bivouac at AlUla with no crashes and the bikes in good condition, which they achieved. Ricky and Skyler had a difficult role today which was opening the stage. Ricky did really well until 80 kilometres from the finish when a navigation error caused him to lose some valuable time. Pablo and Adrien started amongst the middle group of riders, I think Adrien could have won back a bit more time but it was not possible for him today. Tosha started further back with Daniel Sanders and near the end of the stage Tosha slowed down so that he can start behind Daniel tomorrow. It was not our strategy but he did it, maybe it’ll work in his favour tomorrow.
It’s a long stage, over 400 kilometres again and we think that there will be a lot of navigation, I hope that Tosha can save the bike, not lose more time to Daniel and arrive to the rest day ready to think about the strategy for the second week. Ricky, Skyler, Adrien and Pablo need to push tomorrow to recover some time that they lost today, this is the goal.
All our riders are still in the race, which is great. Tomorrow is a long day, so let’s see how the second day of the marathon stage pans out.
Rally GP Results - Stage 4
Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | SANDERS Daniel | AUS | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | 05:10:33 | |
2 | SCHAREINA Tosha | 68 | SPA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 00:15 |
3 | CORNEJO FLORIMO José Ignacio | 11 | CHI | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | + 07:49 |
4 | VAN BEVEREN Adrien | 42 | FRA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 08:08 |
5 | GONÇALVES Rui | 19 | POR | Sherco TVS Rally Factory | Sherco | + 08:55 |
6 | COX Bradley | 49 | RSA | BAS DAKAR KTM RACING TEAM | KTM | + 10:55 |
7 | SANTOLINO Lorenzo | 15 | SPA | Sherco TVS Rally Factory | Sherco | + 12:27 |
8 | QUINTANILLA Pablo | 7 | CHI | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 12:38 |
9 | SVITKO Stefan | 142 | SLO | Slovnaft Rally Team | KTM | + 15:42 |
10 | BENAVIDES Luciano | 1 | ARG | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | + 18:26 |
12 | BRABEC Ricky | 9 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 19:58 |
13 | HOWES Skyler | 10 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 20:10 |
Rally GP Provisional Standings after Stage 4
Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | SANDERS Daniel | AUS | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | 25:15:33 | |
2 | SCHAREINA Tosha | 68 | SPA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 13:26 |
3 | EVAN BRANCH Ross | 16 | BWA | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | + 26:10 |
4 | HOWES Skyler | 10 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 27:01 |
5 | BRABEC Ricky | 9 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 29:13 |
6 | VAN BEVEREN Adrien | 42 | FRA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 29:26 |
7 | QUINTANILLA Pablo | 7 | CHI | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 33:14 |
8 | BENAVIDES Luciano | 1 | ARG | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | + 35:57 |
9 | CORNEJO FLORIMO José Ignacio | 11 | CHI | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | + 54:01 |
10 | SANTOLINO Lorenzo | 15 | SPA | Sherco TVS Rally Factory | Sherco | + 59:39 |
