Howes and Schareina on the 48 Hour Chrono stage podium

The mammoth 48 Hour Chrono stage on the 2025 Dakar Rally came to its conclusion today with a shake up in the standings for Monster Energy Honda HRC as Skyler Howes and Tosha Schareina powereded through to a fantastic second and third on the stage podium.

After hauling themselves to the 617km break zone once the clock struck 5pm yesterday, they spent a night in the cold desert of Saudi Arabia before the sun rose and time for the riders to resume racing to the finish line of this herculean 947km special stage.

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In the provisional classification yesterday all the Monster Energy Honda HRC riders had managed to accumulate those all important bonuses riding up front over the course of the stage, so with Tosha Schareina and Ricky Brabec arriving first to the break zone last night they were going to have to crack the complex navigation to keep themselves in contention today.

Skyler Howes had his best stage so far of this 2025 Dakar Rally showing his depth of strength with his speed and navigational skills out in the vastness of the Saudi Arabian desert.  As the biggest mover today, Howes took advantage of setting off a little further back this morning with an impressive ride on his Honda CRF450 RALLY that saw him not only on the stage podium in second place but also leap up to second overall with just 12’36” separating him from current rally leader Sanders.

Despite little sleep overnight, Tosha Schareina made it to the finish line with the third best time as his excellent navigation skills kept him out front to notch up 9’48” in time bonuses while another who was happy to complete the stage cleanly was Pablo Quintanilla in eighth who spent much of the two day stage riding as part of a group with his teammates.  In deed, the Chilean rider claimed it was one of the toughest stages he’d ever ridden during his 13 Dakar starts.

Van Beveren took the 48 Hour Chrono victory last year and although he was sitting in eighth position heading into today, by the time he’d got to the finish line at Bisha he’d accrued a massive 10’28’’ in time bonuses for being first bike on the road and thus making the first tracks across the sand.  Although it was a great performance by the Frenchman, a small two minute time penalty has moved him off the stage podium from second to fourth.

It was a disappointing stage for the 2024 Dakar Rally champion Ricky Brabec who had a broken exhaust yesterday so he had a frustrating two days of not being able to ride over 130km/h. Once he got to the finish line at Bisha he’d dropped from second to seventh in the stage results and down to fifth overall however, he’ll look to ride hard and bounce back tomorrow on the hunt to reclaim his prestigious Dakar crown.

With the riders now back at the Bisha bivouac there is some time for rest as tomorrow’s third stage has been modified due to stormy weather on the route to Al Henakiyah, the initial 496km of riding against the clock has now been reduced to 327km.

Rally GP Results – Stage 2

Rally GP Provisional Standings after Stage 2