2023 Desafio Ruta 40: Manuel Andujar holds off Moreno for Quad victory

The Desafío Ruta 40‘s Quad category had seven times as many entrants as the previous World Rally-Raid Championship round in Sonora four months prior, which makes it ironic that the battle for the win came down to just two riders yet again. Argentinians Manuel Andújar and Francisco Moreno split the five stages, and the former gained the upper hand with three wins en route to the overall victory.

Moreno, who is not competing for the W2RC, fell behind early as he finished eighth and seventeen minutes back in Stage #1 while Andújar drew first blood. He responded by winning the second stage, only to create a pattern of the two trading stage victories.

Entering the fifth and final day, Andújar led Moreno by 11:32 and increased the gap by another 1:35 en route to the win. The victory is a strong rebound for Andújar after being forced to retire from the Dakar Rally with a mechanical failure before a herniated disc sidelined him from riding until May, when he returned to racing in the Campeonato Argentino de Rally y Navegación (CaNav) series.

Marcelo Medeiros provided the next closest competition to the two when he set the fastest time in their class in the Prologue before joining them on the podium in all five stages. His closest shot at interfering with their duel came in Stages #3 and #5 when he finished fifty-two and fifty-one seconds behind Andújar, respectively, but ultimately placed half an hour back due to sixteen- and eighteen-minute deficits in the even-numbered legs.

Rodolfo Guillioli and Juraj Varga, the only other W2RC riders in the class, respectively placed sixth and eighth. Varga, who raced under his own banner but had support from Andújar’s 7240 Team, struggled with mechanical problems throughout the rally’s second half. In Stage #3, his Yamaha Raptor lost power before the oil hose burst as did the air hose thirty kilometres before the finish; electronic issues then plagued him on the fourth and fifth legs. As points-eligible competitors, they joined Andújar on the W2RC podium and received the same honours for finishing second and third.

Quad riders Ayelén Bogado and Suany Martinez were among six women competing in the DR 40. Martinez finished as high as eighth before bowing out on the final day, while Bogado was the final rider to complete the rally.

After finishing fourth in Stage #1, Tobias Carrizo retired three days later due to a rollover.

Following his Dakar retirement and missing the next two races, Andújar’s Argentina win gave him his first W2RC points of the season. Receiving twenty-five points as the overall winner, he is tied with Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge champion Abdulaziz Ahli for fifth. Laisvydas Kancius, who ran the first three rounds and won Sonora before sitting out the DR 40, remains the points leader while Guillioli and Varga move past Pablo Copetti for second and third. Going into the final round in Morocco, Guillioli trails Kancius by sixteen points and Varga does so by twenty-three.

Quad overall results

Quad stage winners

Overall winners

W2RC Quad standings