Van Beveren & Cornejo both on the box for Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge’s Stage 4
Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally Ricky Brabec is 5th on Stage 4, holds onto 2nd overall spot, while Schareina falters & drops from No. 1 overall.
The penultimate Stage 4 of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, Round 2 of the 2025 FIM World Rally Raid Championship, saw two Monster Energy backed racers put their bikes up on the stage podium as Adrien Van Beveren (Honda HRC Rally) brought his CR450 Rally in with the No. 2 position, while Hero Motosports’ Jose “Nacho” Cornejo clocked his 450 Rally in with the No. 3 spot.
Tough luck though for Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally’s Tosha Schareina as the WRRC sophomore racer, who had to open Stage 4 (following winning Stage 3), went from the overall ADDC motorcycle division lead to 5th place with one stage remaining due in part to an early (50 km) navigational error.
As it stands now, Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally’s Ricky Brabec, who placed 5th on Stage 4, sits in 2nd place overall and, at 7:23 back of KTM’s Daniel Sanders, has the best shot in the field of catching the leader on the Stage 5 finale.
For Van Beveren, his 2nd place run on Stage 4 would be his second stage podium of the event, having place 3rd on Stage 3. The former ADDC champ (’23), Van Beveren was pleased with his Stage 4 performance and keeping positive as the team gets set to complete this hard fought competition on Thursday.
“I was good to ride together, all of us today. I tried to push… did my best,” he said. “I’m not feeling slow, but I can’t seem to reach my best speed. Racing is giving your best, importantly, because you’ll think about it when you go home. Today I pushed as much as I could, arrived to the guys at the end of the stage and for sure we made up some time. Let’s see what tomorrow brings and we will stay focused until the end.”
Added 3rd place Cornejo on Stage 4 and completing the Marathon stage: “It was a nice stage. A little bit different scenery at the start with big red dunes. And those were fun to ride. The Marathon stage gave us a little more adventure vibe to the race. Tomorrow will be the last push. A tight battle and we will do our best.”
Stage 4 Notes:
- Stage 5’s run out of the United Arab Emirates capital city, Abu Dhabi, will showcase 167 kilometers of Special ‘timed’ racing. And in order to grab the first spot of the overall motorcycle division podium, Monster Energy’s Brabec will have to make up some 7 minutes and 23 seconds on leader Sanders.
- For the 300 km Stage 4 Special, Sanders had the advantage of starting in 6th position, and seeing the tracks of the five bikes ahead of him, coming in 3:23 out front of 2nd place Van Beveren. With the 2nd place run on Stage 4, Van Beveren did manage to move up into 4th position in the overall standing, giving Monster Energy the No. 2 (Brabec), No. 4 (Van Beveren) and No. 5 (Schareina) overall positions.
- Added Schareina, who had the tough job of opening Stage 4: “Today definitely was the worst day to open the stage. But I understand it is part of the game. I tried to push from the beginning, but at kilometer 50, I made a big mistake with the navigation and I think I lost three minutes there. But yeah, we will try tomorrow again.”
- Van Beveren actually has the best shot at moving up another notch on Thursday’s Stage 5 as he trails Luciano Benavides (KTM) by just 21 seconds for the third and final podium spot.
- Cornejo on the first thing he’s doing when he returns to his hotel from the Marathon Stage. “A nice meal. Not the American snack bag.”
- Brabec echoed Cornejo’s sentiment on the food given to the racers at the Marathon Camp. “No breakfast. No lunch. No dinner. They had some paper sack with some food in it.”
- Brabec continued, regarding the overnight stay between Stages 3 & 4 at the WRRC’s Marathon Camp: “The wind was insane last night. It sucked. Sand was blowing everywhere. Pretty miserable. But yeah, I made it to the finish line, so I’m happy with that.”
- And Van Beveren on the Marathon Stage: “The Marathon was made tougher by the wind. Even in the tent was sandy. But it was a part of the adventure. And sometimes it is good to get back into those conditions to remember how good it feels to be back in your own bed.”
Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge Stage 4 results
2nd – Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda), 2:54:37
3rd – Cornejo (Hero/Monster Energy), 2:56:06
5th – Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda), 2:57:09
6th – Howes (Monster Energy/Honda), 2:58:27
8th – Schareina (Monster Energy/Honda), 3:01:50
Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge overall standings top five (Prologue through Stage 4)
2nd – Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda), 12:21:45
4th – Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda), 12:23:29
5th – Schareina (Monster Energy/Honda), 12:23:33
Monster Energy WRRC Motorcycle Standings
Place/Name/Team
2nd – Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy/Honda)
3rd – Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda)
5th – Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda)
6th – Skyler Howes (Monster Energy/Honda)
7th – Jose “Nacho” Cornejo (Hero/Monster Energy)
Up next…
Thursday’s fifth and FINAL stage of the 2025 FIM World Rally-Raid Championship’s Abu Dhabi Challenge begins in Mezeer’ah and culminates six days of racing (five stages + Prologue) back in Abu Dhabi. Racers will cover some 364 kilometers, 167 of which will again be dominated by the sands of the Empty Quarter desert. For more information, including “Live” timing and scoring, visit www.worldrallyraidchampionship.com
