Video highlights and results from stage two of the Desafio Ruta 40 round of the World Rally-Raid Championship in Argentina – Adrien Van Beveren takes a day win and jumps into the rally lead.

The course of stage two of the 2024 Desfio Ruta 40 ran from Córdoba to San Juan and was billed as a fast one. Flirting with the speed limits is always a risky business and, sure enough, multiple competitors were slapped with penalties for speeding that impacted the results of the stage.

Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy Honda) took the win in the Rally GP motorbikes and snatched the overall lead from Tosha Schareina by a mere 10 seconds. Their teammate Ricky Brabec rounded out an all-Honda podium in third place, 2′14″ down.

In Rally 2, Romain Dumontier (Team Honda) won the special and took over the lead from Bradley Cox (BAS World KTM Racing) by 1′25″. Fernando Hernández (MED Racing) is the new Rally 3 leader.

Van Beveren at the double

Back in the day, AVB had his heart set on bagging the Dakar win in Argentina but fate had other plans as the Frenchman crashed out of the lead, badly injuring himself.

He continues to chase his dream in the Saudi desert, but he still aspires to win a rally in South America and, after finishing fourth in the prologue and third in stage one, Van Beveren turned on the afterburners to claim the longest special of the event (423 km) 27 seconds ahead of his teammate Skyler Howes with Hero rider Sebastian Bühler 1′09″ third. The Honda CRFs of yesterday’s leaders, Tosha Schareina (+1′39″) and Ricky Brabec (+3′42″) are not so far behind in a rally which does not reward those leading the way, so no bonus points here.

AVB also vaulted to the top of the leader board by 10 seconds over teammate Schareina and 2′14″ over Brabec. Honda are hogging the provisional podium, but Bühler and his Hero remain well within striking distance in fourth place, 2′34″ down.

Honda new recruit in Rally 2

HRC also have another new recruit at this round, another Frenchman in fact with Romain Dumontier in Rally 2. "Dudu" followed up his win in the prologue with another stage win in San Juan, finishing 2′48″ ahead of Bradley Cox to snatch the overall lead from the South African's hands by 1′25″. Konrad Dąbrowski (Duust Rally) came in third on the day, while the Peruvian Ramiro Barco (Hero MotoSports) remains third overall, 51′04″ from the leader.

Tomorrow, stage three will take the field on a 478 km loop around the Circuito San Juan Villicum, including a 341 km special.

Desafio Ruta 40 stage 2 results:

Desafio Ruta 40 classification after stage 2 (RallyGP):

Photo Credit: A.S.O E.Bauer|DPPI