Sonora favorites and Top Americans have found this year's inaugural Rally to be anything but a hometown advantage as Skyler Howes crashed out and Ricky Brabec can't crack top 5. However, the former Dakar champ was once again the fastest rider from the Monster Energy Honda Team, finishing a chaotic Stage 4 in 6th position (3:34 gap) – meaning he was able to climb some position in the overall standings to 9th place. His Honda teammate Adrien Van Beveren was 8th today and sits in 6th overall. Meanwhile GasGas mounted Daniel Sanders is one Stage away from winning it all.
“Stage 4 was definitely a struggle journey for me, I didn't really feel comfortable today, didn't feel confident,” said Brabec at the end of a confusing day for everyone. “I couldn't really find the flow, it was really fast so I was happy to be at the finish. Now there is just one more stage to go and that’s not much we can do. We are here basically training and riding. Now we will have some rest and will push for the final day tomorrow.”
Thursday was a rollercoaster of emotions for most of the riders. Due to a mistake in the road book at Km 76,84 where it was indicated CAP 298 instead of CAP 233, several FIM competitors missed the route. All competitors affected by this situation were later able to rejoin the rally route at Km 93,39. FIM officials analyzed the issue and presented a solution intended to minimize its impact. In consequence, the Race Director decided to disregard the SS time between WP26 (Km 76,84) and WP30 (Km 93,39). The Bonus corresponding to the WP of 91,36 Km was also not considered.
Despite the chaos, Chucky, aka Daniel Sanders is looking forward to a sprint to the finish on Friday. “Yeah, that was a pretty wild day. I was the first rider out, and I noticed that the road book had a kind of different style, there were a few notes that were a little strange for me. I kept cruising, and found a mistake in the road book, the wrong cap. I went straight, managed to validate the waypoint before the fueling. Then I made a big mistake at the end and lost three minutes or so, only about 10 kilometers from the finish. Friday is a shorter day tomorrow, the final day of the event, and since I won’t be leading out in the morning, I hope I can have a good day.”
The last day calls for a shorter stage between Puerto Peñasco and San Luis with a 139 km special stage and a liaison of 259 km. Gravel and sand tracks with a lot of dust will continue to demand full concentration and great technical driving skills.
Results Sonora Rally 2023 – stage 4 (provisional)
1. Toby Price (KTM) 2:33:21
2. Tosha Schareina (Honda) 2:33:44
3. Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) 2:34:13
4. Daniel Sanders (GASGAS) 2:35:01
Provisional Standings – Sonora Rally 2023 (after stage 4)
1. Daniel Sanders (GASGAS) 9:47:08
2. Tosha Schareina (Honda) 9:52:50
3. Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) 10:01:31