After biding his time in the Prologue and the longest day of the Desafio Ruta Rally on Stage 1, former Dakar winner Ricky Brabec was 3rd overall and first of the Team Honda HRC rally squad on Stage 2. The Top American finished the 265 km of Special Stage between the cities of La Rioja and Belén 7’39 seconds behind another Honda CRF 450 Rally bike – the one from Tosha Schareina, who remains in the overall lead.
The second Stage suited Brabec's riding style. The first part of today’s stage was really fast with gravel tracks and then navigation was more important in the second part with demanding terrains: chott, fesh-fesh, dunes and sand. "Stage 2 was good, so with three days left we will see what we can do," says Brabec, who has nothing to lose. "After this third place I will be risking everything I have. I know I’m just further off the overall classification now, so I’m not quite sure what to do at this point other than go for it."
Today's Stage should play to Brabec's strengths since the race will repeat the circuit scheme with start and arrival in Belén. There will be 197 km of liaison and 265 km of Special Stage. This third stage will mix once again gravel, sand tracks and dunes.
In the overall standings, "Lucky" Benavides sits second and Brabec's HRC teammate Adrien Van Beveren is in 3rd (13’20 gap), while Brabec moved up to the 5th place, followed by two more Honda teammates Pablo Quintanilla in 6th place and Jose Ignacio Cornejo jumped one position to 7th place.
