He's the new name among the big names in the Dakar, but it didn't take him long to stand out. Tosha Schareina, new arrival in the official Honda team, immediately took center stage by being the fastest in the Al-Ula Prologue of the 2024 edition. Just 27 km timed, which however will be important because they will allow the riders who placed better to choose the starting position for tomorrow's first actual stage.
The Spaniard finished with a time of 17'35″, just 12″ ahead of Daniel Sanders' GasGas, who should now be considered a veteran in his third participation. However, Ross Branch also had an excellent start, immediately placing the Hero in the podium area with the third fastest time at 19″.
However, the same thing cannot be said for the new arrival in the ranks of the Indian brand, because Joan Barreda immediately started with a bang. The Spanish rider, who left Honda after ten years together, fell in the first few kilometres, but fortunately managed to get back on track without major problems. However, his race started uphill, because he found himself only 16th with a gap of 1'25″ from the leader.
Going back to scroll through the ranking in the very top positions, in fourth position is the other Honda of Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren, who finished 24″ behind, just a couple ahead of the reigning world champion Luciano Benavides. His brother Kevin, who is the holder of the Touareg trophy, having won the last edition of the Dakar with his KTM, is ninth at 56″.
Between the two Argentines there is also room for three other big names, because in that order we find Sam Sunderland's GasGas, Pablo Quintanilla's Honda and Toby Price's KTM, with the last two already starting to have gaps of around 50 “, while that of the British remains less than half a minute.
Mason Klein's tenth place is worth highlighting, because the American is riding a Chinese motorbike, the Kove. Among other things, he will be one of those to keep an eye on, because despite being only 21 years old he has already shown great things in his two previous appearances at the Dakar. However, two other expected names are more delayed, such as those of Ricky Brabec and José Cornejo, who currently occupy the 14th and 15th position respectively, both separated by more than a minute.
As for the Italians, at the moment the best in the standings is Paolo Lucci, who with his KTM occupies 36th place with a delay of 4'20″. In his wake, just two seconds behind, we find the Fantic of Tommaso Montanari in 37th position.
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