La Rioja celebrated the arrival of Desafío Ruta 40 YPF INFINIA
Just like last year, the visit of the World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC) to the capital of La Rioja was a real party. A sunny day and a crowd that came to the bivouac of Estadio Superdomo were the setting for a day of key action for the definition of the race. Tosha Schareina won in bikes, but could not catch up with leader Ricky Brabec. In Ultimate, Nasser Al Attiyah and Edouard Boulanger took the lead, while in Quads, Manuel Andujar is close to the title in the race and in the World Championship. Tomorrow, the last stage arrives in Cordoba, where the awards ceremony will take place at 3 pm at Parque del Chateau.
A day of pure Rally Raid on the roads and a party at the bivouac. As usual in every visit of the Desafío Ruta 40 YPF INFINIA to La Rioja, the fans came and filled the bovouac located in Estadio Superdomo. On the roads, the action was non-stop but there are still many unknowns to be revealed in the last day of this competition, which will take place tomorrow, Friday, joining the capitals of La Rioja and Córdoba, with a stage of 218 kilometers at full speed and 301 kilometers of liaison.
Stage 4: Brabec defends his position, and Al Attiyah attacked at the right time
The leader of the competition among the bikes, Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy Honda Team) did a good deal on Thursday. Despite opening the track and facing a complicated navigation sector at the start of the 391-kilometer special stage (it was shortened by a few kilometers), the American managed to maintain a good pace that allowed him to lose just 7 seconds to the fastest of the day, his teammate Tosha Schareina, who completed the day with a time of 3:37.25.
Thus, Brabec wins in the overall classification with a cumulative time of 15:31.35, beating Schareina by 1.27 seconds, while Adrien Van Beveren (also with Honda) is third, 4.28 seconds behind.
In Quads, Manuel Andujar (Yamaha) is more and more firmly set in the lead and hopes to clinch his second consecutive crown in the World Championship, something he will achieve if tomorrow he arrives in Córdoba as leader and his Saudi rival, Hani Alnoumesi (Yamaha) -who is currently sixth in the classification valid for the W2RC- does not climb up to second place in the overall standings. The rider from Lobos is already more than 40 minutes ahead of Facundo Viel, his runner-up.
Meanwhile, Romain Dumontier (Honda Team) won the stage in Rally2, and also finishes 7 minutes ahead of Bradley Cox (KTM). In Rally3, Chilean John Medina (BAS WORLD KTM RACING TEAM) took the lead after the delay of the leader, Fernando Hernández (MED RACING TEAM).
The fight for the lead in cars, more precisely in Ultimate, is red hot and will have a definition tomorrow in the final kilometers. Nasser Al Attiyah and Edouard Boulanger (Nasser Racing by Prodrive) attacked at the right time and, with a time of 3:39.15, achieved a very important victory to be ahead of Yazeed Al Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk (Overdrive Racing) in the overall standings. The difference at the end of the stage was 47 seconds in favor of the driver from Qatar, but then a penalty of one minute was confirmed for an infringement in Stage 3. The penalty was based on evidence from an onboard camera showing that they did not wear the seat belt and FHR correctly for a time in the selective section.
In this way, the Saudi still holds the lead but with a minimum advantage of just 13 seconds over the Hunter driver. The best Argentineans Sebastián Halpern and Ronnie Graue (X-Raid Mini JCW Team) are in third place.
In Challenger, Rokas Baciuska and Sebastien Delaunay (Can-Am Factory Team) won the stage and have almost ten minutes over Nicolas Cavigliasso and Valentina Pertegarini (Taurus B.V). In SSV, Ricardo Ramilo and Fausto Mota (BRP Can Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR) lead the overall.
Baltazar Frezze Pissoni (KTM) won today’s stage among the Open Bikes, where Julián Sánchez Dabín (Honda) continues as the leader. Jeremías González Ferioli and Gonzalo Rinaldi (Can Am) dominate the Open Cars category.
Voices from the bivouac:
Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy Honda Team): “At the beginning, we had a lot of sand. It was very different from the other days. I tried to push at the end and I think I gained about seven seconds from the morning. Tomorrow will be an interesting day. It will be all track and I think it will be hard to gain time but we will push hard and see what happens.”
Manu Andujar: “There is one more stage to go and we will try to get to Córdoba in the best way. I want to enjoy it. It’s full of people. La Rioja always surprises us and more and more people come on every new event. It would be special to win at home. It was a nice race, it was my birthday, my mom came, and she doesn’t like to come to the races, my friends came. The truth is that everything has been very nice.”.
Yazeed Al Rajhi (Toyota Overdrive): “This stage was not easy for us. In the first 88k we lost a lot of time because it was very bumpy, and it was hard for our front suspension. We’ve been having problems with the suspension since Dakar. We tried to do our best, and we tried to take care. But after the 88km we pushed and we gained some time back. Tomorrow it’s going to be a great fight again. I hope everything goes well”.
W2RC: Girl Power
Today, there are 3 women on the W2RC podium: Danial Akeel (BBR; 3rd on the stage), Nicolas Cavigliasso’s co-driver and wife, Valentina Pertegarini (Taurus Factory by Wevers – 2nd on the stage) in Challenger; as well as Rebecca Busi (Only Fans Racing – 2nd on the stage) who finished on the SSV podium. In the overall W2RC competitions, Cristina Gutierrez has already scored 6 podiums in Challenger, which makes her the queen of the discipline. In 2024, the Spaniard will become the first official female W2RC driver, competing alongside Nasser Al Attiyah and Sébastien Loeb in the new official Dacia team.
Stage 5: A full-gas sprint
The last stage of the Desafío Ruta 40 YPF INFINIA, Stage 5 La Rioja-Córdoba (218km special stage, 298km liaison) will be a real sprint through mountain roads that will be very technical and will demand a lot of skill.
The race leaves La Rioja and enters Cordoba territory again, finding typical rally roads that do not allow for any mistakes. Although there won’t be many difficulties in terms of navigation, the drivers will have to keep their concentration to the maximum, bearing in mind that any mistake could cause them to lose seconds or even the race.
The countless turns do not allow for any mistakes and the final kilometers before reaching Cordoba will be a real challenge after five days of intense competition.
The big closing in Cordoba is coming up!
The 12th edition of the Desafío Ruta 40 YPF INFINIA will finish this Friday in the province of Córdoba. The first motorcycle will arrive in the capital of Córdoba around noon. The closing is scheduled to take place -just like the start ceremony- at the Chateau Park at 3 pm, with free admission.
