Ricky Brabec on the podium (3rd) in Stage 2 of the WRRC South Africa Safari Rally

Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally team’s Ricky Brabec (USA) scored a podium finish in Wednesday’s Stage 2 of the FIM World Rally Raid Championship’s South Africa Safari Rally, leading the Monster Energy-backed RallyGP class racers in the opening day of the “Marathon Stage,” a grass roots throwback to how rally races were run in the early days of the Dakar-inspired competition.

WATCH STAGE 2 RECAP HIGHLIGHTS HERE!

Just a click back of AVB, in 4^th position overall and 3:05 back of Sanders, Brabec was pleased with his 3^rd place run on Stage 2 and is looking forward to finishing strong in the race’s final three stages. 

“The day was good. Started out fast, tried to do the best I could, but others were riding better than us today,” said Brabec. “But yeah, overall I’m happy with how the day went. After refueling it was a little bit tricky with the navigation there at the end. Made a horrible decision and went down the wrong fence line, lost about a minute and a half. Bummed on that, but overall happy to make it to the Marathon and happy to not have hit the ground. Looking forward to tomorrow and we’ll see what happens. Keep pushing.”

In the support RallyGP 2 class, Hero Motosports, fueled by Monster Energy’s Tobias Ebster (Austria) continued his podium stream, placing 3^rd in Stage 2 and holding his 2^nd overall division position in the standings through two of five stages.

Aside from the podium efforts, the big news on the day wasn’t the best news as Hero Motosports, fueled Monster Energy’s Ross Branch (South Africa), the defending 2024 WRRC RallyGP overall champion and running the bright yellow No. 1 plate on his Hero Rally 450, ran into – literally – some tough luck as he hit a giant bird that bolted out of the bush, at speed, damaging his oil cooler. Branch was able to fix his bike and finish, but gave up his overall lead in the race.

“Definitely not the stage we were hoping for and aiming for,” said Branch, who was uninjured in the incident. “Fourteen kilometers into the race I hit a bird and damaged the oil cooler on the bike. Had to stop and come up with a plan to fix it so I could make it to the finish. Managed to get to the Marathon bivouac and, yeah, crossing my fingers if we can get to the finish line tomorrow. And then we’ve still got two more stages left that we can haul ass.

“Really sorry to my team and my sponsors, but it was one of those things that you couldn’t avoid.”

Managing to avoid issue and remain on the overall RallyGP podium in 3^rd position was Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally), who passed his Monster Energy compadre Branchy along with way, enroute to a 4^th place finish. 

“Yeah, pretty good day for me. I’m happy with it,” said Van Beveren, who, overall, is 2:58 back of leader Daniel Sanders (KTM). “I saw Ross (Branch) on the side of the track and, unfortunately for him, he was stopped soon after the beginning. It’s not easy here because you can’t really see the tracks. And I opened today, which made it even more difficult.”

Rounding out the top ten for Monster Energy in the SASR were Skyler Howes (Honda HRC Rally) with a strong top five (5^th) effort and Jose “Nacho” Cornejo (Hero Motosports, fueled by Monster Energy) in 7^th position.

Stage 2 Notes:

• After (hopefully) a good night’s rest out in the open South African savanna, Thursday’s SASR Stage 3, the close of the Marathon Stage, is a 246 Special/272 Liaison split will open with savanna areas and lots of dirt track riding, at times tricky navigation.
• Tough news for Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally’s Tosha Schareina, currently ranked No. 2 overall in the RallyGP class, as the Spaniard was unable to answer the bell Tuesday morning due to a reported injured hand he suffered in a high speed Stage 1 crash.
• “Had some gates that were closed, not easy to manage that. At one place a family sent me around, and I came right back to their gate again (laughter).” – Van Beveren on the closed gate(s) he encountered as the opening bike on Stage 2. He’d receive nearly two minutes in time credit for the incident.
• Birthday shout out to Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally’s Miguel Santos, the quarterback of all the race planning on Honda’s side. With the racers out camping on their own (Marathon Stage), Santos and his teammates were treated to a South African-style BBQ. Happy Birthday, Miguel!
• Over on the Hero Motosports, fueled by Monster Energy, side of things the team took in a local safari game park, Pilanesberg Game Reserve, to check out the locals – elephants, lions, zebras and such. The Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally team will hit up the park later this week.

WRRC South Africa Safari Rally Results

Stage 2 (Place/Name/Team/Time)

3^rd – Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda), + 4:46

4^th – Van Beveren(Monster Energy/Honda), + 4:52

5^th – Howes (Monster Energy/Honda), + 6:28

7^th – Cornejo (Hero/Monster), + 13:14

10^th – Ebster (Hero/Monster Energy), + 22:04 (2^nd in RallyGP 2)

South Africa Safari Rally Overall Standings RallyGP class

3^rd  – Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda), + 2:58

4^th – Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda), + 3:05

5^th – Cornejo (Hero/Monster Energy), + 18:20

7^th – Howes (Monster Energy/Honda), + 21:31

South Africa Safari Rally Overall Standings RallyGP 2 class

2^nd – Ebster (Hero/Monster Energy), + 11:51

Monster Energy WRRC Motorcycle GP class standings (after Dakar & Abu Dhabi)

Place/Name/Team

2^nd – Schareina (Monster Energy/Honda), 46 points        

3^rd – Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda), 37 points             

4^th – Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda), 35 points

6^th – Howes (Monster Energy/Honda), 24 points

6^th – Cornejo (Hero/Monster Energy), 24 points

2025 FIM World Rally-Raid GP2 class standings 

1^st – Tobias Ebster (Hero/Monster Energy), 46 points

Up now…

The FIM World Rally Raid Championship moves to South Africa for the inaugural running of the South African Safary Rally, May 18-24. For more information, including “Live” timing and scoring, visit www.worldrallyraidchampionship.com