Round two of the 2024 World Rally-Raid Championship saw super-sub Aaron Mare take a maiden W2RC win for the Hero Motosports Rally Team who now lead the series’ points with Ross Branch in the absence of rivals.

Wolfgang Fischer, Hero MotoSports rally team manager, must be glad that he gave Aaron Mare a shot to fill in for Sebastian Bühler at the 2024 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. The South African became the 15th rider to enter the hall of fame of the ADDC and landed his first W2RC win at this second round of the ’24 season.

The super-sub made his debut in the championship and with the maximum points, immediately jumps into the standings in third place.

Aaron Mare: “I’m super happy to get the overall victory at ADDC. I can’t thank Hero MotoSports, Waffi and the team enough for getting me up here. It was an amazing opportunity, and I made the most of it. I was also fortunate to ride along with Ross Branch who came fresh from his Dakar podium, and learnt a lot from him. We were teammates several years back, and it was a wonderful time spent with him here. I look forward to the upcoming races in the year.”

Bike problems on day one prevented a stronger challenge from his teammate Ross Branch who arrived on the back of a second place finish at Dakar in January.

The airline pilot who moonlights as a rally-raid competitor (we think it could be the other way around really) regrouped to finish fourth scratch and second in the Rally GP class.

The 20 points scored means Branch takes over the W2RC RallyGP championship lead with 50 points to Dakar winner Ricky Brabec’s 38 and Aaron Mare third with 25.

The elephant in the room here is the rival factory teams – Honda, KTM Group, Sherco etc. – have elected not to compete the full world championship season. But you got to be in it to win it…

Hero MotoSports is now also heading the manufacturers’ points standings with 75 points to the Honda’s 62. The third round of the championship, the BP Ultimate Rally Raid in Portugal, runs from April 2 -7.

Rally 2 riders shine

Duust Rally team’s two Rally 2 riders shone at ADDC with Konrad Dąbrowski and Jean-Loup Lepan taking the fight to the Hero factory riders and ending up in that same order behind the winner on the ADDC podium.

First in the Rally 2 category, Dąbrowski opened his W2RC account and moved up to third in the championship ahead of his French teammate.

Notable retirees this week were potentially podium riders, if not winners, were Michael Docherty, Romain Dumontier and Tobias Ebster who withdrew due to crashes and injuries. Lepan is the new Rally 2 front-runner on 44 points, ahead of class winner at Dakar Dumontier on 38 and Dąbrowski with 36.

2024 W2RC after the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (round 2 of 5):

1. Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports): 50 pts

2. Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy Honda): 38 pts

3. Aaron Mare (Hero MotoSports): 25 pts

FIM Rally-Raid World Cup for Rally2 riders:

1. Jean-Loup Lepan (Duust Rally): 44 pts

2. Romain Dumontier (Team Dumontier Racing): 38 pts

3. Konrad Dabrowski (Duust Rally): 36 pts

FIM World Rally-Raid Championship for Manufacturers:

1. Hero MotoSports Team Rally: 75 pts

2. Monster Energy Honda Team: 62 pts

Full ADDC results here

Photo Credit: A.S.O. | DPPI | B. Roux