The Desafío Ruta 40‘s Quad class had seven occasions as many entrants because the earlier World Rally-Raid Championship spherical in Sonora 4 months prior, which makes it ironic that the battle for the win got here down to only two riders but once more. Argentinians Manuel Andújar and Francisco Moreno break up the 5 levels, and the previous gained the higher hand with three wins en path to the general victory.
Moreno, who will not be competing for the W2RC, fell behind early as he completed eighth and seventeen minutes again in Stage #1 whereas Andújar drew first blood. He responded by profitable the second stage, solely to create a sample of the 2 buying and selling stage victories.
Coming into the fifth and ultimate day, Andújar led Moreno by 11:32 and elevated the hole by one other 1:35 en path to the win. The victory is a powerful rebound for Andújar after being compelled to retire from the Dakar Rally with a mechanical failure earlier than a herniated disc sidelined him from using till Could, when he returned to racing within the Campeonato Argentino de Rally y Navegación (CaNav) sequence.
Marcelo Medeiros supplied the following closest competitors to the 2 when he set the quickest time of their class within the Prologue earlier than becoming a member of them on the rostrum in all 5 levels. His closest shot at interfering with their duel got here in Phases #3 and #5 when he completed fifty-two and fifty-one seconds behind Andújar, respectively, however in the end positioned half an hour again as a result of sixteen- and eighteen-minute deficits within the even-numbered legs.
Rodolfo Guillioli and Juraj Varga, the one different W2RC riders within the class, respectively positioned sixth and eighth. Varga, who raced below his personal banner however had help from Andújar’s 7240 Group, struggled with mechanical issues all through the rally’s second half. In Stage #3, his Yamaha Raptor misplaced energy earlier than the oil hose burst as did the air hose thirty kilometres earlier than the end; digital points then plagued him on the fourth and fifth legs.
Quad riders Ayelén Bogado and Suany Martinez had been amongst six ladies competing within the DR 40. Martinez completed as excessive as eighth earlier than bowing out on the ultimate day, whereas Bogado was the ultimate rider to finish the rally.
After ending fourth in Stage #1, Tobias Carrizo retired three days later as a result of a rollover.
Following his Dakar retirement and lacking the following two races, Andújar’s Argentina win gave him his first W2RC factors of the season. Receiving twenty-five factors as the general winner, he’s tied with Abu Dhabi Desert Problem champion Abdulaziz Ahli for fifth. Laisvydas Kancius, who ran the primary three rounds and received Sonora earlier than sitting out the DR 40, stays the factors chief whereas Guillioli and Varga transfer previous Pablo Copetti for second and third. Going into the ultimate spherical in Morocco, Guillioli trails Kancius by sixteen factors and Varga does so by twenty-three.
