Branch takes World Championship lead
Kabelo Boranabi | Tuesday March 5, 2024 09:14
The race hosts the second of the five rounds of the 2024 W2RC as the local biker moves into pole position for the first time in history for a local biker and also a first for Indian manufacturer, Hero MotoSport Rally Team. He finished behind teammate, Aaron Mare of South Africa in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
Branch has started off well in the race that concluded on Saturday as he finished the prologue stage in the lead. He finished sixth in stage one and kept his place in the top 10 with an improvement to a fourth spot on stage two. The Jwaneng biker bagged a stage three win to claim the lead of the race. On the final day, Branch finished second behind Mare to clai second position in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
The biker has accumulated 20 points at the Abu Dhabi terrain to take his tally to 50. Branch had bagged 30 points from the 2024 Dakar Rally and round one of the W2RC. Dakar Rally winner Ricky Brabec has fallen to second place as he sat out the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
The American biker is 12 points behind Branch with 28 points while Mare concludes the top three standings with 15 points. Branch could be racing to his first ever world title after he finished fourth in the 2023 season while it was a 13th finish on his debut appearance in W2RC in 2022. Three more rounds remain for the local lad to attempt to bring the title home. Next in line is the BP Ultimate Rally Raid in Portugal, before the Defasio Ruta 40 in Argentina while the fifth and final round is the Rallye du Maroc (Morocco Rally) in October.