2024 Desafio Ruta 40: Speeding penalties galore in Stage 2

Adrien Van Beveren went fast to win Stage #2 of the Desafío Ruta 40, but he and many others perhaps went a bit too fast.

Van Beveren battled with Sebastian Bühler for much of Tuesday’s stage, being separated by as little as one second as they ran through the first 325 kilometres. The former’s Monster Energy Honda team-mates Skyler Howes and Pablo Quintanilla had monster runs (pun intended; both Honda and Bühler’s team Hero MotoSports are sponsored by the energy drink) in the final 100 that propelled them past Bühler while Van Beveren built plenty of distance to pull away.

By the end, however, Quintanilla and Van Beveren both received speeding penalties. Quintanilla had seven minutes tacked onto his time, relegating him from third to eighth while Van Beveren was penalised 1:20, which was trimmed down to a twenty-second penalty and allowed him to keep the win over Howes. Bühler’s Hero colleague Ross Branch was also busted for speeding and got a minute.

“We started off on fast pistes which were very slippery,” Bühler explained after finishing third. “Managing the tyre condition while riding extremely fast was dangerous, but also fun at the same time. After refuelling I lost a bit of time, but overall I’m happy with the result and enjoy a good starting position for tomorrow.”

Twenty speeding penalties were handed out amongst the FIM categories, the victims including all but four of the fifteen Quad riders. Manuel Andújar celebrated his 28th birthday on Tuesday with the category’s stage win, though among his presents was a two-minute penalty. His fellow podium finishers Juan Carlos Carignani and Kamil Wiśniewski respectively got one minute and twenty seconds for speeding, while Mariano Viel lost third place to a six-minute addition that dropped him to fifth. Viel’s brother Facundo Viel (fourth), Cooper Van Vliet (sixth), Leonardo Martinez Saucedo (tenth), and Wilson Fabian Cerón Ochoa (fifteenth) escaped the stage without punishment.

Andújar had lost the Stage #1 win to Viel after arriving twelve minutes late to the bivouac due to an oil leak, which was reflected in his final time for the day. Nevertheless, he made up the gap on pace alone Tuesday and ended the day with nearly eighteen minutes on Viel.

While Van Beveren narrowly averted losing the FIM stage win to his penalty, Nasser Al-Attiyah was not as lucky on the FIA side. The Stage #1 winner initially beat Yazeed Al-Rajhi by fifty-one seconds, but both ended up with 2:50 and one-minute penalties that dropped them to second and third. Lucas Moraes ran a clean race to secure the stage win, though he trails Al-Rajhi and Al-Attiyah in the overall by five minutes.

Penalties pervaded the UTV classes too. Rokas Baciuška had thirty seconds added, but it mattered little as he comfortably won both the stage and continues to lead the Challenger overall, the latter by eleven minutes over Nicolás Cavigliasso, who got a minute imposed on his time. David Zille (fourth), Nazareno López (sixth), Hernán Garcés (seventh), and Nadia Lafuente (twelfth) were busted for speeding too.

Four of the five SSV drivers were punished for speeding. Victor Enrico Gaspari got twenty seconds whereas Sebastián Guayasamín, who finished four seconds behind Gaspari, lost ten seconds. Rebecca Busi and Ricardo Ramilo had time placed whereas Claude Fournier completed the stage without issue in fifth. With points leader Yasir Seaidan out following his turbo issue in Stage #1, every second will matter for Guayasamín, trailing Gaspari by 1:21 in the overall, if he wants to leapfrog Seaidan.

Juan Cruz Yacopini rolled his Toyota Hilux at KM 144 but reached the finish in eighth.

Stage #2 winners

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Time
Ultimate	203	Lucas Moraes	Toyota Gazoo Racing	4:08:14
Challenger	300	Rokas Baciuška	Can-Am Factory Team	4:30:15
SSV	409	Enrico Gaspari	TH-Trucks Team	4:51:17
RallyGP	42	Adrien Van Beveren	Monster Energy Honda Rally Team	4:18:42
Rally2	16	Romain Dumontier	Team Dumontier Racing	4:24:27
Rally3	34	Fernando Hernández	MED Racing Team	5:23:57
Quad	174	Manuel Andújar	7240 Team	4:53:57
Open Bike	603	Julian Sanchez Dabin*	Max Clean Rally Team	5:36:09
Open Cars	650	Jeremías Gonzalez Ferioli*	Ferioli Racing Team	4:58:24

* – Not competing in World Rally-Raid Championship

Leaders after Stage #2

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Time
Ultimate	202	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	Overdrive Racing	8:05:11
Challenger	300	Rokas Baciuška	Can-Am Factory Team	8:38:26
SSV	409	Enrico Gaspari	TH-Trucks Team	9:29:01
RallyGP	42	Adrien Van Beveren	Monster Energy Honda Rally Team	8:36:34
Rally2	16	Romain Dumontier	Team Dumontier Racing	8:58:08
Rally3	34	Fernando Hernández	MED Racing Team	10:55:02
Quad	174	Manuel Andújar	7240 Team	9:45:49
Open Bike	603	Julian Sanchez Dabin*	Max Clean Rally Team	11:19:50
Open Cars	650	Jeremías Gonzalez Ferioli*	Ferioli Racing Team	9:41:50