The Deaafío Ruta 40 today had a close finish in the stage that closed the competition between La Rioja and Córdoba across 218 kilometers that kept the fans in suspense. Within the Ultimate car category, the bid for victory was epic. Nasser Al Attiyah was penalized one minute in La Rioja when it was found that he had not properly fastened his seat belt and with this his advantage of 47 seconds was diluted and he had to go out and try to win in another way.
The final kilometers were key and there, in very fast sectors, Al Rajhi’s Toyota was able to impose its power and gain one second per kilometer to win the stage with 27 seconds over Nasser, which was enough to win the general classification with a 40-second advantage. In this way, the championship will be defined in Morocco next October, where it will be another battle.
Yazeed Al Rajhi won with a net time of 17h38m21s and 40 seconds ahead of Al Attiyah, with Argentine Sebastián Halpern (Mini) finishing third overall, who had to resign himself to not being able to fight due to lack of power in the Mini, whose engine he already has. a long time without developments.
Now, Nasser is waiting to test the new Dacia that he will share as a team in the next Dakar 2025, with Sebastien Loeb and Christina Gutiérrez. Then, there will be preparations to take part in the Olympic Games in Paris, within the Shooting specialty.
Among the Challenger category cars, Rokas Bciuska was the winner with 18h54m59s, beating Nicolás Cavigliasso (Taurus) from Cordoba by 6m49s and Diani Akeel by 21m44s.
Honda Motorcycle Trilogy
On two wheels everything was left to Honda and between its three drivers it will be the definition of the World Championship in Morocco next October. The Monster team placed Ricky Brabec as the winner, the American who, with a net time of 18h09m07s, beat the Spaniard Tosha Schareina by 15 seconds and the Frenchman Adrién Van Beveren by 5m13s, who was very pleased with the Argentine race, the support of the public and the paths used that left him very satisfied. Skyler Howes Honda) was fourth and Ross Brachs (Hero) and Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) completed.
Among the Quads, there was great Argentine joy with the triumph of Manuel Andujar (Yamaha). The Lobos driver won four of the five stages and became FIM and Latin American champion. “I have been running for eight of my 28 years and now I close my campaign with these achievements that leave me very happy. Now I’m getting off the Quad and going fishing, which is my next goal,” said a smiling Andujar at the end. He was escorted by Facundo Viel (Yamaha) and Giuliano Giordana (Yamaha) from Córdoba.
The other participating categories consecrated the Frenchman Eomian Dumontier (Honda) in Rally Class 2. Meanwhile, in Rally 2, the victory went to Chilean John Medina with KTM. Curtain for a great race for the World Rally Raid, which left everyone satisfied and with the hope of being able to tell it again next year.
Now, all eyes will be on Morocco, where between October 5 and 11 it will be the great definition of champion in the main categories and, at the same time, the last great test with a view to Dakar 2025.
