Tosha Schareina is 2nd overall at BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Championship Portugal

With five stages of World Rally-Raid Championship’s penultimate round, the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal, concluding on Sunday in the picturesque capital of Lisbon, Monster Energy’s Tosha Schareina stood proudly on the rostrum’s second rung with the silver medal as the lone top three representative of the powerful Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally team.

And with the effort, Schareina also moved past Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally teammate Ricky Brabec into a podium 3^rd place position in the overall WRRC season standings with one round remaining (Rallye du Maroc, Oct. 10-17).

Schareina, who was the only racer in the field to defeat BP Rally-Raid overall winner Daniel Sanders (KTM), doing so with a decisive Stage 3 victory on Friday, actually had the overall event lead heading into Saturday’s Stage 4. But navigational miscue would cost Schareina nearly five minutes (4:54) and he ended up handing the lead back to Sanders for the short, ‘victory lap’ final Stage 5 on Sunday – ultimately coming up 3:40 short of the 1^st place podium position.

“We knew from the beginning that today (Stage 5) it would be difficult to take the win,” said Schareina, who is tied on the season at 66 points with Brabec, but has the tiebreaker in his favor. “We started three minutes behind the overall and I tried everything today, but had to be happy with 2^nd overall. Happy for the team. They did a really good job.

“Now, we just focus on the next race.”

 For Brabec, lost in his 4^th place overall finish, 14:34 back of the winning time, was the fact his effort was so indicative of the Dakar spirit. On Stage 3, Brabec wadded up his Monster Energy/Honda CRF450 Rally with 20 kilometers to go to the finish. The wreck would severely separate Brabec’s pinky finger from its socket. And rather than seek/wait for medical attention, Brabec rammed the finger back into its socket, righted his bike from the Portugal dirt, and kept on racing.

“It was a fight all week,” said Brabec. “The guys up front were going really fast. Happy to get the end of the race in once piece and I’m looking forward to Morocco.”

Rounding out the top five in overall BP Rally-Raid Portugal scoring would be Skyler Howes, who gave Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally its third racer in the top five – placing 5^th overall on the week

“I’m happy to be here at the end of this great race,” said Howes. “Really, really fun to race through this country and see all the people out here cheering us on. Happy to be in good health. The courses were really good and the road books were awesome. Thanks to my team for all the hard work, and thank you to the organizers as well. Looking forward to the next round in Morocco, then it’s back to full gas training for Dakar.”

Added Monster Energy’s Joe Parsons: "I think the boys did a great job, might not have come home with a victory due to self-inflicted wounds on Stage 4, but this happens. We’re all human, people do make slight errors here and there. We just got beat… by ourselves you could call it. And that’s alright. We just lick our wounds, pack up our stuff, and head off to Morocco.”

In Rally 2 racing, Monster Energy received a top ten performance in Stage 5 from Tobias Ebster (Hero Motorsport), who raced to a 4^th finish.

Notes:

• What’s been called a “City Desert Race,” the Portugal (and Spain) WRRC round proved to be ‘one for the fans.’ Thousands of spectators lined the course. Out there with beach chairs, coolers and umbrellas and hike into wherever the course is coming through. They all have a great time. Come down to the service park to get autographs and take photos, interacting with the riders.
• “Portugal’s an interesting race. It’s not a big race in terms of open desert. A lot of fast roads, narrow tracks, sandy hard packed dirt. Very technical, and a good way to hone in your skills on these types of races. Helps us set up the bikes for different races. A great proving ground, and part of the (Rally-Raid) World Championships. – Monster Energy’s Joe Parsons
• For Schareina, moving into 3^rd place in the season WRRC points chase comes without scoring any points at the previous round – the South African Safari Rally. Schareina’s 2^nd place finish has come off overall podium finishes at the Dakar Rally (3^rd), Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (2^nd) and today’s 2^nd at Portugal.
• Leaving Portugal with the same overall points (66) is Brabec. The two-time Dakar champ scored podium finishes at Abu Dhabi (2^nd) and South Africa (3^rd), with top five finishes coming at Dakar (5^th) and Portugal (4^th).
• Rounding out the top five for Monster Energy in the RallyGP class is Adrien Van Beveren in 5^th place overall in the series. AVB opened the ’25 WRRC season with an impressive 3^rd place podium run at Dakar, followed by top five efforts at Abu Dhabi (5^th) and South Africa (4^th). Unfortunately at Portugal, AVB suffered a tough get off and was unable to finish (DNF).
• From the FIM... “The W2RC convoy will barely have time to catch its breath before hopping across the Mediterranean for the Rallye du Maroc, which will bring down the curtain on the 2025 season. See you in Fez on October 10th for the start of administrative and technical scrutineering and on October 12th for the prologue!”
  
  

WRRC BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal

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

4^th – Schareina (Monster Energy/Honda), + :38

6^th – Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda), + 1:02

7^th – Howes (Monster Energy/Honda), + 1:46

Rally 2 class

4^th – Ebster (Monster Energy/Hero), + 1:39

Overall BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal Standings RallyGP

2^nd – Schareina, + 3:40

4^th – Brabec, + 14:34

5^th – Howes, + 24:49  

Rally 2

25^th – Ebster, 23:07:12

Monster Energy WRRC Motorcycle GP class standings (after 4 of 5 rounds)

Place/Name/Team

3^rd – Schareina (Monster Energy/Honda), 66 points                    

4^th – Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda), 66 points

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

6^th – Howes (Monster Energy/Honda), 46 points

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

2025 FIM World Rally-Raid GP2 class standings (after 4 of 5 rounds)

3^rd – Ebster (Hero/Monster Energy), 67 points

Up next…

From the FIM… “Part of the FIA-FIM World Rally-Raid Championship since its creation in 2022, Morocco, prime land of cross-country rally, will host once again the W2RC final from October 10 to 17 for the protagonists of the 2025 season. Morocco is a vast arena for rally raids, with dirt tracks, sand, stones, dunes that open up possibilities in every register. It is also a sprawling desert riddled with navigational challenges.” For more information, including ‘Live’ timing and scoring, visit www.worldrallyraidchampionship.com