Brabec wins final stage of S.A. Rally, makes overall event podium; Branch (Hero) 3rd Stage 5

As the sun began to set over the African continent, the lights at the Sun City, South Africa, bivouac lit up the night sky to award the world’s top motorcycle rally racers for their efforts in the inaugural South Africa Safari Rally, Round 3 of the 2025 FIM World Rally Raid Championship. And representing Monster Energy on top of the five day event’s final Stage 5 podium in the premier RallyGP class were Ricky Brabec (Honda HRC Rally), who parlayed his victory on Saturday into the 3^rd place overall position in the class on the week. And joining Brabec on the Stage 5 podium, much to the approval of his local South African countrymen that cheered for him every kilometer of the way, was Monster Energy’s Ross Branch (Hero Motosports) in 3^rd place.

In the support RallyGP 2 division, Tobias Ebster (Hero Motosports, fueled by Monster Energy) completed the Monster Energy Stage 5 sweep of the top podium positions, and locked down 2^nd place overall in the process in South Africa.

Through three rounds of WRRC racing, the American Brabec would also rally past his Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally teammate, France’s Adrien Van Beveren (8^th Stage 5, 4^th overall at the SASR), and into the top three (3^rd) in the overall season standings – tied at 53 points with KTM’s Luciano Benevides. And in RallyGP 2’s overall standings, Ebster (Austria), a new edition to the Hero Motosports, fueled by Monster Energy, leads the overall class standings.

“The day was good,” said Brabec. “Overall, the rally was pretty fun. Lot of grass track racing. Lot of corners. Lot of fences. And the navigation could really throw you off. Overall, I’m happy to be at the finish line. Today we had a good push. Kind of a difficult stage, only 111 k’s, but it was full ISDE Six Days style in the grass and the trees. We pushed really big and really hard, got some time back today, but, unfortunately, we were just a minute shy of 2^nd on the podium – so we’ll have to accept 3^rd.”

For Ebster, there was some poetic justice in the Stage 5 win as he’d only been on the Hero 450 Rally motorcycle for a short period of time before he was in the starting gate for the SASR, as he explained: “I had a navigational error near the start, CP2, a wire got stuck in my rear wheel, and then a small crash and another navigational mistake in final 20 kilometers, other than that it was a good day. We achieved together the first stage win. It was definitely a pleasure to be here. Really a hell of a ride and a good confidence boost for Portugal.

 “This was definitely not an easy rally. But such a great rally. There were so many people out there cheering us on. This made it really, really special for today’s stage.”

Rounding out the South Africa Safari Rally’s final Stage 5 top ten for Monster Energy were American Skyler Howes (Honda HRC Rally) in 6^th, Chilean Jose “Nacho” Cornejo (Hero Motosports, fueled by Monster Energy) in 7^th and Van Beveren in 8^th.

Stage 5 Notes:

• With the inaugural SASR in the books, WRRC racers and teams now look ahead to the September (22-28) BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal, the penultimate Round 4 of the 2025 global series.
• In the final Stage 5, Brabec was able to put 42 seconds on overall race winner Daniel Sanders (KTM), who placed 2^nd. And had it not been for a couple crashes in an earlier stage, costing him valuable time, Brabec would have been ahead of 2^nd place Luciano Benevides (KTM).
• Ebster, cruising in for what seemed to be an easy Stage 5 victory, actually had his bike slow down on him. Thinking it was a flat, he looked down and noticed a substantial piece of heavy wired had wrapped itself around his rear wheel, spoked & hub. “I had to grab the side cutter and cut it out,” he said, remounting and still winning the stage.
• “To be quite honest, I’m super sad it’s done. It was such an amazing event. It’s so nice to ride through all these amazing places. Everything you could ask for in a rally. The team was incredible. The bike was amazing. We just had a little bit of bad luck.” – Branch
• Only seven points separate the 2^nd and 3^rd overall podium positions between Benavides (53), Brabec (53), Van Beveren (48) and Schareina (46).
• The RallyGP 2 title chase is even closer with Ebster holding a slim three-point lead over Edgar Canet (KTM) and eight points over Michael Docherty (KTM).
• A big Monster Energy ‘High Five’ to our own rally racer Sara Price, who recently signed on with the Defender driver lineup for 2026 to race the WRRC’s Dakar Rally, and possibly more.

WRRC South Africa Safari Rally FINAL Results

Stage 5 (Place/Name/Team/Time) RallyGP class

1^st – Brabec (Hero/Monster Energy), 1:23:17

3^rd – Branch (Hero, Monster Energy), + 2:06

6^th – Howes (Monster Energy/Honda), + 5:09

7^th – Cornejo (Hero/Monster Energy), + 6:06

8^th – Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Hero), + 6:12

RallyGP 2 class

1^st – Ebster (Hero/Monster Energy), 1:30:33

South Africa Safari Rally Overall Standings RallyGP class

3^rd  – Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda), + 10:00

4^th – Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda), + 15:47

5^th – Howes (Monster Energy/Honda), + 35:48

7^th – Cornejo (Hero/Monster Energy), + 46:02

South Africa Safari Rally Overall Standings RallyGP 2 class

2^nd – Ebster (Hero/Monster Energy), + 15:24

Monster Energy WRRC Motorcycle GP class standings (after 3 of 5 rounds)

Place/Name/Team

3^rd – Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda), 53 points             

4^th – Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda), 48 points

5^th – Schareina (Monster Energy/Honda), 46 points

6^th – Howes (Monster Energy/Honda), 35 points

6^th – Cornejo (Hero/Monster Energy), 34 points

9^th – Branch (Hero/Monster Energy), 8 points

2025 FIM World Rally-Raid GP2 class standings (after 3 of 5 rounds)

1^st – Ebster (Hero/Monster Energy), 66 points

Up next…

The FIM World Rally Raid Championship heads back across the Atlantic for Round 4 of the series - the annual running of the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal, Sept. 22-28. For more information, including “Live” timing and scoring, visit www.worldrallyraidchampionship.com