Pune mariner Ashish Raorane completes Stage 4 in P28
Abu Dhabi, 2 March 2023: Indian star Ashish Raorane, the mariner from Pune, continued his onward march completing one more day with guts and determination braving an injury and finished Stage 4, a noteworthy 28th Overall, in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge on Day 5 on Thursday.
The gutsy rider clocked 5 hours, 37min, 50seconds and was 1hr,50:42sec behind the leaders including a penalty time of nine minutes but his daring feat carrying a painful arm made it all the more sweet. The Indian needs to finish the last stage tomorrow to put one more international rally raid event under his belt.
He finished 15th in Rally2 class today for a cumulative standing of 11th in his class and Overall P28 today and his 28th in the Overall standings remains as it is.
Earlier in the morning, a thick blanket of fog descended upon the penultimate stage, delaying the start of the motorbike race by two hours and shortening the car special to 173 kilometres.
The #34 Xraids Experience rider has encountered a fall on Day 2 and met his worse incident yesterday where he suffered a ruptured bicep muscle but bravely recovered and continued for another about 100Km. Today the disciplined warrior lost a bit of time but successfully conquered the marathon stage.
Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) claimed his second win in the motorbike category, while Pablo Quintanilla, who started the stage in second place overall, is out of contention after his Honda gave up the ghost 250 km into the special. His teammate Adrien Van Beveren still tops the leader board.
In the cars section, Sébastien Loeb (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) took the car stage. Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing) is more than 10 minutes clear of Martin Prokop (Benzina Orlen Team) and 20 minutes ahead of Denis Krotov (X-raid Mini JCW) in the overall.
FIM: Hero’s Ross Branch third
Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna Factory Racing) grabbed his second stage win after dominating the special from A to Z. Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy Honda), who seized the overall lead two days ago, finished second on the day at 3′22″.
Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) came in third at 4′06″. Toby Price (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) finished seventh at 9′01″ after opening the way this morning. Benavides surged up the general standings, where he is now the Frenchman’s closest pursuer at 2′58″.
The Chilean Nacho Cornejo has finally placed his Honda on the provisional podium, 6′14″ behind his teammate. Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) is fourth at 6′38″. Skyler Howes (Husqvarna Factory Racing) sits in fifth place at 7′16″.
Toby Price slipped down to sixth at 8′35″. Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy Honda) is seventh at 8′52″. Less than 9 minutes separate the top 7. Benavides will be starting tomorrow’s stage right before the overall leader —an unenviable position for the Argentinian to find himself in.
However, other riders are in with a shout too, with the next five competitors in the standings a mere 6 to 9 minutes off the pace. The race is still wide open among the top 7, who will settle their differences in a finale stretching for more than 200 kilometres.
In the Rally2 category, Paolo Lucci, the hegemon of the race since Day 1, conceded buckets of time following a crash with 20 kilometres to go. The BAS World KTM Racing rider surrendered the lead to Jean-Loup Lepan (Duust Diverse Racing) and is now almost 11 minutes down.
In the quad race, Abdulaziz Ahli (Abu Dhabi Team) picked up his third victory by over 16 minutes on Laisvydas Kancius (AG Dakar School), padding his overall lead and all but wrapping up his third title in a row.
