THIRD PLACE FOR LUCIANO BENAVIDES ON SONORA RALLY DAY FOUR.
ARGENTINIAN SUCCESSFULLY DEFENDS HIS TOP THREE OVERALL POSITION WITH STRONG PERFORMANCE ON PENULTIMATE STAGE.
Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Luciano Benavides has raced to third place on day four of the Sonora Rally. Setting off as the fifth rider into the 248-kilometre timed special, Luciano was soon battling for the lead on time and was still able to finish less than one minute behind the provisional stage winner, despite not collecting any bonus time for being in the top three riders to open the stage.
Finding the Mexican terrain very much to his liking, and feeling comfortable on his FR 450 Rally, Benavides was able to push hard over the broken tracks of the stage and deliver his best stage result of this year’s race. By narrowing the gap to the provisional rally leaders, Luciano was able to successfully defend his third-place position in the event’s overall standings.
Pleased with his performance, and now with just Friday’s 398-kilometre final stage to go, Benavides is fully focused on securing a strong result at this third round of the FIM World Rally-Raid Championship. In turn, he hopes to earn more valuable championship points to move up the standings.
Luciano Benavides:“It’s been another solid day of riding for me here in Mexico. I think we came into today expecting more open desert, but there were a lot of pistes and so not much navigating. It seems that from day two if you didn’t start in the top three and earn the bonus time, it was really difficult to compete in this terrain. I’m pleased with how my riding has been up to his point and really pleased with my result today. My rhythm has been good across all the different conditions we’ve seen, so that’s really encouraging. I’m lying third right now, but the times are really tight with Toby (Price) and we only have tomorrow to go. I’ll give my all and hopefully earn some good points for the championship.”
2023 Sonora Rally – Stage 4 Provisional Classification
1. Toby Price (KTM) 2:33:21
2. Tosha Schareina (Honda) 2:33:44
3. Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) 2:34:13
4. Daniel Sanders (GASGAS) 2:35:01
5. Matthias Walkner (KTM) 2:36:20
6. Ricky Brabec (Honda) 2:36:55
2023 Sonora Rally – Provisional Overall Classification [After Stage 4]
1. Daniel Sanders (GASGAS) 9:47:08
2. Tosha Schareina (Honda) 9:52:50
3. Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) 10:01:31
4. Toby Price (KTM) 10:02:10
5. Matthias Walkner (KTM) 10:06:02
6. Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) 10:07:37
Text/Bild: Husqvarna