Tosha Schareina could not have hoped for a better start to his third Dakar and his first as an official rider.
The man from Valencia has proven to be the quickest on the prologue to pick up his first stage win on the Dakar.
He has beaten the GASGAS ridden by Daniel Sanders by 12’’ and the Hero ridden by Ross Branch by 19.
Adrien Van Beveren has put the second Honda in the rankings into fourth position 24’’ behind the winner.
Luciano Benavides, who won three stages last year, finished fifth, 2’’ behind Van Beveren.
His brother, title holder Kevin Benavides, achieved the day’s ninth best time, a little less than one minute behind the winner.
The 2024 Dakar Rally has finally begun in Saudi Arabia with the prologue kicking off the action for the Monster Energy Honda Team amidst the breathtaking backdrop of AlUla.
Riding amongst the historical rock formations, the first Honda RallyGP rider out of the starting blocks was Tosha Schareina on today’s 27 km course being on full attack from the get go.
The young Spaniard brilliantly topped the timesheets and therefore seeing him take his first ever Dakar stage win.
The organisers had set a very tricky prologue which saw riders being tested on off-piste and sandy sections relying heavily on their navigation skills.
A day after his 33rd birthday, Adrien Van Beveren kept in touching distance of Tosha to be fourth just 24 seconds behind, while Dakar Legend Pablo Quintanilla posted the seventh quickest time of the day.
The vastly experienced pairing of Ricky Brabec and José Ignacio Cornejo were a little further back finishing in thirteenth and fourteenth as they will look to move up the rankings as the rally gets underway proper tomorrow.
A tougher than usual challenge for the opening day, it wasn’t the ideal start for Skyler Howes as an error saw him not only damage his Honda CRF450 RALLY, but also his road book.
Despite losing time there are still two weeks of rallying to go and the American rider is positive he can change things around.
The bonus of finishing in the top ten today means riders will get to choose their place for tomorrow’s stage later on this evening and with Tosha on top it’ll be interesting to see what position he chooses.
Don’t forget he won World Rally-Raid Championship stages in 2023 despite being first on the stage so this could very well be factored into his plan for tomorrow.
Stage one will kick off the first weekend in January with riders heading East from AlUla to Al Henakiyah where they will be thrown into a 414 km special stage.
A 127 km liaison will make up the 541 km total distance in what promises to be a demanding day with rocky terrain and volcanoes on the menu as riders head to the first bivouac.
Ruben Faria
General Manager
It didn’t go too badly for the first day of action for the Monster Energy Honda Team at this year’s 2024 Dakar Rally with almost all our riders in the top 20.
It was an unlucky situation for Skyler as he had a little crash and broke some parts on the bike, so he couldn’t ride as well as he wanted to.
The rest of the riders are all in a good spot for tomorrow which is important for stage one, so today has been a good start for the team.
Tosha Schareina
I felt really good in the prologue, it was longer than expected with more navigation and it was 100% sand too.
Of course we have to keep our feet on the ground because the main race starts tomorrow, so I will keep focused on that and keeping thinking about the Dakar.
2024 World Rally Raid Championship Friday, January 5th 2024
Prologue Round 1 Dakar Rally 2024
Provisional Standings after Prologue
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 SCHAREINA Tosha 68 SPA Monster Energy Honda Team Honda 00H 17′ 35”
2 SANDERS Daniel 4 AUS Gas Gas Factory Team Gas Gas +0:12
3 EVAN BRANCH Ross 16 BWA Hero Motorsports Team Rally Hero +0:19
4 VAN BEVEREN Adrien 42 FRA Monster Energy Honda Team Honda +0:24
5 BENAVIDES Luciano 77 ARG Husqvarna Factory Racing Husqvarna +0:26
6 SUNDERLAND Sam 3 GBR Gas Gas Factory Team Gas Gas +0:28
7 QUINTANILLA Pablo 7 CHI Monster Energy Honda Team Honda +0:47
8 PRICE Toby 18 AUS Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team KTM +0:51
9 BENAVIDES Kevin 1 ARG Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team KTM +0:56
10 KLEIN Mason 43 USA BAS World KTM Racing Team KTM +0:58
13 BRABEC Ricky 9 USA Monster Energy Honda Team Honda +1:19
14 CORNEJO José Ignacio “Nacho” 11 CHI Monster Energy Honda Team Honda +1:24
42 HOWES Skyler 10 USA Monster Energy Honda Team Honda +5:10