FIM: Branch bends but does not break

Flying under the radar is the method that Ross Branch, a Botswanan airline pilot in civilian life, applied throughout the 2024 season. The current world champion, who has never triumphed on a leg of the W2RC, contented himself with winning 5 stages during the 2024 calendar. The marathon man with race number 1 this season has already covered 2,559 km on the podium of the provisional general rankings this week. He is now in fourth place overall as week two of the rally approaches, but the ‘Kalahari Ferrari’ remained on the podium until Adrien Van Beveren pushed him down a place at the end of stage 5. Last year, Branch made do with 2^nd place on completion of the Dakar to roll out his plan right up to the Rallye du Maroc and his strategy for 2025 does not seem to be different. Neither does the context, because the pack of five Honda riders that tried to stop Branch in 2024 is well installed in the top 8. Tosha Schareina, who made a premature exit from the Dakar last year, is the most prominent of the team’s representatives, occupying 2^nd in the general rankings with a lead of 10’46’’ over the world number one. The other Honda ridden by AVB stands in 3^rd, just 1’17’’ ahead of the Hero rider. What is new at this season’s beginning is the return to favour of Daniel Sanders. The injuries that forced the Australian to watch on from the sidelines are now a distant memory. The winner of the Moroccan finale last October is continuing at the same pace in 2025. With four stage victories since the start in Bisha, occupying the top of the general rankings since the first day, Toby Price’s heir apparent has a solid lead on the Dakar of a little more than a quarter of an hour over Schareina. KTM, which has not yet written its name on the W2RC roll of honour, has begun the fourth season of the championship in the finest of ways.

In the Rally 2 class, the pull factor created by the change to the rules for the class has swept away the established order. All the Rally 2 riders registered for a leg are automatically enrolled in the championship this year and with current title holder Bradley Cox having switched to the Rally GP class, new names are already starting to break up the hierarchy established in 2024. That of Edgar Canet has appeared the most often, as was expected. He was enrolled at the last minute by the KTM factory team and the youngest official rider in the brand’s history is emulating Sanders at the tender age of 19 years: he leads the Rally 2 rankings and has earned three stage wins on the way to Ha’il. Tobias Ebster, who has won two stages, is the only rider to have contested first place with the Spaniard in the general rankings. Michael Docherty has also won a stage, but the situation at the race’s midway point is clear: Canet leads Ebster by 16’39’’ and Docherty by 31’07’’. There are three KTM at the forefront, while the riders on Honda commercial models Romain Dumontier and Jacob Argubright, both tackling their first Dakar, are grouped in 4^th place (49’47’’ behind) and 5^th position (51’34’’). Neels Theric on his Kove has made a noteworthy entrance to the championship behind the reds. In the new Team rankings set up to reward the Rally 2 structures, BAS World KTM Racing are already favourites thanks to Ebster and Docherty. Canet, the only Rally 2 rider in the official KTM team, is not backed up by a second team-mate and therefore cannot score points in the rankings.