Tosha Schareina is back on top with victory on stage two as Adrien Van Beveren joins him on the podium

The Monster Energy Honda Team rider Tosha Schareina was the fastest rider across the 272 kilometres of the second stage of the Rallye Du Maroc today as he sped to victory which elevated him into the lead of the rally.

The stage route today was changed slightly due to the huge amount of rain that fell upon the area recently necessitating some kilometres swapped out for rocky tracks in order for the rally to continue. Tracks were hard to pick out for the riders heading the charge from dawn this morning with more waypoints than normal added in but for the Honda riders in the searingly hot conditions, all went well with them and their Honda CRF450 RALLY bikes.

A third of the way into the stage competitors would also have to tackle the Erg Chigaga, one of the most spectacular collection of dunes in the eastern region of Morocco with peaks of over 150 metres that cover an area nearly 30 kms long.   

Ready to tackle these and setting off the line in third today, Tosha Schareina was looking to add to his prologue victory from two days ago and didn’t wait more than 43kms into the stage before he had got himself into the lead.  After losing a little time mid-stage he got back to the top of the leaderboard at the 214km mark to hold that hard fought advantage to the finish line for the stage victory and a return to the top of the overall standings by 42 seconds after six hours of hard rallying.

With the title fight now between Adrien Van Beveren and the lead out rider Ross Branch, today’s stage was a chance for the Frenchman to capitalise on the speed he has to push hard and grab back some of the time that slipped away yesterday.  Stopping to assist Sebastian Bühler who crashed out 142km into the special, Van Beveren (who was credited back the stationary time taken to assist an injured competitor) got going again to finish in an impressive second place and jump ahead of his championship rival in the overall standings.

2021 Rallye Du Maroc winner Pablo Quintanilla really gelled with his Honda CRF450 RALLY today, keeping the pressure on throughout the day to swap the lead of the stage at the halfway point with Schareina. On the run in to the finish line he kept the high pace and clocked fourth on the stage today just 2’22’’ behind his team mate.

Tomorrow’s stage sees the riders head out of Zagora on a north easterly route to the final bivouac at Mengoub Bouârfa, situated in the Figuig Province.  With a mammoth 676km distance to be covered on the bikes tomorrow, the riders will rest up early tonight as the longest day of this year’s rally looms.