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2024 Rallye du Maroc: Ross Branch secures RallyGP title for Hero
2024 has been a year to remember for Botswana. In August, Letsile Tebogo won the country’s maiden gold medal at the Summer Olympics in the men’s 200-metre sprint. Two months later, Ross Branch claimed the World Rally-Raid Championship in the RallyGP category.
Despite not winning a race and being the only rider in the class to attempt all five W2RC rounds, Branch was consistent and avoided serious mistakes throughout the season. His rivals from Monster Energy Honda Rally Team dominated the races they entered, winning three of the first four rounds, enabling them to quickly close the gap on the leader. Entering the season-ending Rallye du Maroc, Branch led Honda’s Ricky Brabec by just nine points and Adrien Van Beveren by sixteen.
Branch drew first blood when he finished runner-up to Honda’s Tosha Schareina in the Prologue but ahead of Brabec by three seconds. That ended up being the only strike he needed as Brabec hurt his tibia on a hard landing in Stage #1, ending his title hopes, while Branch scored the stage win.
Van Beveren was the only other rider with a mathematical chance at the championship, but needed Branch to retire as well while he placed second or won. He technically achieved this goal by finishing fourth overall but runner-up among points-earning riders behind Schareina, though the Branch exit never occurred.
“It’s important for me to finish with a good feeling like that just in time for Dakar,” said Van Beveren. “It’s the fourth year in a row that I’m on the podium of the World Rally-Raid Championship: I’ve been runner up twice, in third twice, so I want to keep my dream alive and take that top spot. Ross did a really good job, he’s been consistent so he deserved the title.”
Knowing he just had to finish, Branch ran a conservative strategy the rest of the way. His best stage finish in the remaining four legs was fifth on the last two days.
The title is his first in international rally raid after previously claiming three in the South African Rally-Raid Championship, while Hero MotoSports clinches their maiden riders’ title in any FIM world championship. Hero is also the first manufacturer outside of Pierer Mobility AG (KTM, GasGas, Husqvarna) to win either the W2RC or preceding FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship since the late Paulo Gonçalves claimed the 2013 title for Honda; fittingly, Gonçalves was instrumental in developing Hero’s rally raid programme before his passing.
“No words can capture the magnitude of this incredible moment,” said Branch, who received the #1 number bib from 2023 champion Luciano Benavides that he will be allowed to use in 2025. “I am thrilled to see the entire team’s hard work come together, and witnessing everyone’s happiness is a success in itself. I feel fortunate to be part of such a passionate family. Thank you to everyone who believed in me and provided me with this opportunity. It is truly overwhelming.
“As we look ahead into 2025, I see a bright future for our young team. This is just the beginning. This victory represents one of the biggest steps in the right direction for Hero, and I am really excited about the future.”
Mokgweetsi Masisi, President of Botswana, congratulated Branch in a statement released following the race:
“It is with great pride and immense joy that I extend my heartfelt congratulations to you on winning the FIM World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) in Morocco. Your remarkable achievement, the first ever for our country, stands as a testament to your resilience, unwavering dedication, and world-class skill.
“Thank you Ross Branch for bringing this prestigious title home and for raising our flag high on the international stage. We look forward to seeing you achieve even greater heights in your career.”
Only Honda and Hero were registered for the 2024 championship amidst a restructuring at Pierer, who consolidated their rally divisions into KTM for the Rallye du Maroc. Daniel Sanders, previously of GasGas, won two stages and capitalised on Schareina’s time penalty—he had twelve minutes added to his time for leaving the neutralisation zone too early in Stage #3—for his second career W2RC win after the 2023 Sonora Rally. Benavides, migrating from Husqvarna, joined his new KTM colleague on the podium in third.
“I’m so pleased with how the whole rally has gone, especially taking the win of course, but it’s definitely a massive accomplishment for myself and the whole team since Dakar and the last race in Argentina; it really demonstrates the hard work everyone has put in over these last few months,” commented Sanders. “I’m happy to be back on the top step. It’s been a year and a half since I broke my femur, so I’m super pumped to be back on form and showing some good speed ahead of Dakar.”
Brabec’s exit meant Van Beveren and Schareina moved past him in the final results. By having the top points-earning in four of five races, Honda also surpassed Hero for the manufacturers’ title; Aaron Marè won the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge over Branch in a Hero-only race. Honda has won all three manufacturers’ championships since the W2RC’s founding in 2022.
Even if coming up short in the individual standings, Schareina’s third to go with being the highest running W2RC rider in Morocco and at the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid still caps off a strong year for him. Weeks before the race, he and Honda won the FIM E-Xplorer World Cup in their maiden campaign.
“This is our moment of glory, forever etched in the annals of sporting history,” began Hero manager Wolfgang Fischer. “Ross, our shining star has brought home our priciest possession: the World Championship. Our journey to this moment started exactly eight years back as a small setup with limited resources and big dreams. I’m extremely happy for Ross, and really proud of what our entire team has achieved through consistent hard work and dedication over the years.
“Building on our best-ever Dakar performance, we were able to continue our high-performance streak throughout the year: winning the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, and finishing second at the Rally-Raid Portugal. Rallye du Maroc, the last round of the race was of utmost importance – and our entire team stepped up to face this mammoth challenge. I’m proud of Nacho (Cornejo), who did an exceptional job at helping Ross to cross the finish safe. I also wish Basti (Sebastian Bühler, who crashed in Stage #2) a safe recovery. On behalf of the team I would like to thank our dear Chairman Dr. Pawan Munjal for his strong belief and continued support for us. Now it’s time to celebrate.
“We’ll be back soon. See you at the Dakar!”
RallyGP overall results
| Finish | Number | Rider | Team | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 5 | Daniel Sanders* | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 15:45:06 | Leader |
| 2 | 68 | Tosha Schareina | Monster Energy Honda Rally Team | 15:56:13 | + 11:07 |
| 3 | 1 | Luciano Benavides* | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 16:06:09 | + 21:03 |
| 4 | 42 | Adrien Van Beveren | Monster Energy Honda Rally Team | 16:07:57 | + 22:51 |
| 5 | 46 | Ross Branch | Hero MotoSports | 16:30:39 | + 45:33 |
| 6 | 15 | Lorenzo Santolino* | Sherco TVS Rally Factory Team | 16:37:14 | + 52:08 |
| 7 | 11 | José Ignacio Cornejo | Hero MotoSports | 17:00:07 | + 1:15:01 |
| 8 | 30 | António Maio* | Yamaha Portugal | 18:07:48 | + 2:22:42 |
| DNF | 7 | Pablo Quintanilla | Monster Energy Honda Rally Team | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 9 | Ricky Brabec | Monster Energy Honda Rally Team | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 14 | Sebastian Bühler | Hero MotoSports | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 19 | Rui Gonçalves* | Sherco TVS Rally Factory Team | DNF | N/A |
RallyGP stage winners
| Stage | Rider | Time |
| Prologue | Tosha Schareina | 16:54.9 |
| Stage #1 | Ross Branch | 2:16:57 |
| Stage #2 | Tosha Schareina | 3:23:44 |
| Stage #3 | Daniel Sanders | 3:27:03 |
| Stage #4 | Daniel Sanders | 3:34:17 |
| Stage #5 | Tosha Schareina | 2:33:04 |
W2RC RallyGP standings
For readability, competitors registered for the championship but did not earn points are excluded.
Riders’ standings
| Rank | Rider | Points | Margin |
| 1 | Ross Branch | 88 | Leader |
| 2 | Adrien Van Beveren | 76 | – 12 |
| 3 | Tosha Schareina | 70 | – 18 |
| 4 | Ricky Brabec | 63 | – 25 |
| 5 | José Ignacio Cornejo | 41 | – 47 |
| 6 | Pablo Quintanilla | 37 | – 51 |
| 7 | Sebastian Bühler | 29 | – 59 |
| 8 | Skyler Howes | 26 | – 62 |
| 9 | Aaron Marè | 25 | – 63 |
Manufacturers’ standings
| Rank | Manufacturer | Points | Margin |
| 1 | Honda | 193 | Leader |
| 2 | Hero | 155 | – 38 |
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