Moreas & Monleon capture Stage 2 victory in San Juan

The TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team of Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleon powered their way to a dramatic victory in the second stage of the Desafío Ruta 40 in Argentina. Just a day after they overtook 18 cars on their way to a podium finish in their GR DKR Hilux T1+, the pair upped the ante in the longest stage of the race as they secured their third World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) win in what is the fourth round of the championship.

The stage saw competitors travel a total of 724 km from Córdoba to San Juan in what promised to be an arduous journey, featuring 30 km of unchartered salt pans, harrowing tracks and some infamous fesh-fesh. Lucas and Armand were third on the road in the Ultimate category and immediately made their presence felt, quickly closing the gap between themselves and stage-one winners Yazeed Al Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk, who had dropped to second in the stage behind Nasser Al-Attiyah and Edouard Boulanger.

By the 140 km mark, the TGR team had climbed to second, and were just 39sec behind Al-Attiyah and Boulanger, as the hunter, became the hunted. It appeared that the battle for top-honours was going to be between Brazilian Moraes and multiple-Dakar winner Al-Attiyah, and as the latter’s lead rarely extended past one minute, a nail-biting finish seemed in the offing.  

However, while Lucas and his Spanish navigator Armand obeyed all speeding restrictions along the way, Al-Attiyah and Boulanger didn’t, and as a result were punished with a 02min 30sec penalty. That meant that when the TGR pair roared their GR DKR Hilux T1+ over the finish line in a time of 04h 08min 14sec, they had done enough to secure a famous win in extremely harsh conditions, finishing 57sec clear of their closest challengers Al Rajhi and Gottschalk.

The success didn’t end there for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing as Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz hit back brilliantly from a fairly chaotic first stage to finish fourth in San Juan. The pair lost valuable minutes on Monday when they ended stranded in a ditch after avoiding some wayward spectators, an incident Quintero put down to “bad luck”, but their fortunes changed in Stage 2.

After starting the day in eighth position, the American driver and his German navigator delivered a near-faultless drive, before getting caught in the dust of a rival for about 200 km. The slower competitor wrong-slotted near the end, which allowed the pair to pounce and attack the final stretch of the route. Despite the challenges, they still managed to climb four places as they brought their GR DKR Hilux T1+ home in 04h 13min 58sec to narrowly miss out on a podium spot.

Seth and Dennis rose to seventh in the overall rankings, to sit 30min 13sec off the pace, and while Lucas and Armand remain third, they’ve closed the gap between themselves and the leaders to just 04min 54sec.

Wednesday’s Stage 3 marks the midway point of the 12^th edition of the Desafío Ruta 40 and will see competitors take on a racing loop of 341 km before returning to San Juan, with gravel, stones and sand the order of the day. 

QUOTES:

Alain Dujardyn, W2RC Team Principal: 

"I want to thank the entire TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team – the driver crews, engineers and mechanics for delivering an incredible collective effort which resulted in today’s superb results. What made the success even sweeter was that it took place on such a stunning stage, which was enhanced by the thousands of wonderfully passionate Argentinian fans along the route.”

Lucas Moraes: 

"We just finished stage number two with a win. An incredible day for us. Thank you to the whole team for delivering another amazing car. Armand did a great job. We kept it clean without penalties, but we pushed hard. What a fight with Yazeed and Nasser. But very nice to finish so well in San Juan so let's keep going.”

Seth Quintero: 

“Today certainly went better than yesterday for sure. After Stage 1 we wanted to put in a hard charge today, but unfortunately got stuck in the dust for about 200 km, but to be honest I’ve never felt more confident in myself or the car so I’m feeling really good. We’ve got three days to go and we’re going to push hard.”

DESAFÍO RUTA 40 – STAGE 2 RESULTS

DESAFÍO RUTA 40 – STANDINGS AFTER STAGE 2

Partners

Red Bull has established itself as the premiere supporter of extreme sports and athletes, and as such fits perfectly with TOYOTA GAZOO Racing's Dakar and W2RC efforts. The Austrian energy drink manufacturer has partnered with TGR over numerous years, and the involvement bore fruit when the team won a second Dakar title in January 2022, and a third in 2023.

SpeedMax is a CantuStore's private label, which is the largest omnichannel platform and leader in tire replacement market in Brazil. SpeedMax promotes maximum performance through high-performance tires that suit all types of vehicles, from passenger cars to trucks and tractors, as well as inner tubes and truck wheels.