This would be Branch's best season in the W2RC as he made nine places jump from the 2022 13th finish to fourth this year. Branch has accumulated 58 points in this year's championship as he missed the podium places by 16 points.
Luciano Benavides of Argentina is the 2023 W2RC champion with 100 points while Australian, Toby Price came second with 96 points and Adrien van Beveren finished third with 76 points. Branch was in North Africa this week for the W2RC finale at the Rallye du Maroc. Ahead of the race, the 37-year-old was just 11 points away from the podium.
He was off to a good start at the Rallye du Maroc as he bagged a stage win on day one. Branch took a few steps back with a 10th-place finish on stage two of the race before he recovered to land the fifth spot in stage three. Branch was outside the top five on stage four after a faulty stage run. On the last day of the Rallye du Maroc held on Wednesday, Branch was unlucky to miss the podium places by just 30 seconds.
He settled for a fourth-place finish to cement position four in the W2RC with 13 points accumulated in North Africa. "What an amazing rally as always, well done to the Rallye du Maroc for such a good adventure. Overall, I finished fourth, not the result we were hoping for but that is rally (racing) and I am really happy with how the week went. We had some very good days and some results," Branch said in a Facebook post.
It was a pleasant start to the season, as Branch bagged eight points from 11th finish at the Dakar Rally in January. A fifth finish at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, round two of the W2RC handed the biker 11 points before 10 points from the sixth finish at the Sonora Rally. Branch improved in round four, the Defasio Ruta 40 in Argentina where he finished fourth place and accumulated 13 points.
Branch will shut his engines until January when he takes part in the 2024 Dakar Rally. The Dakar Rally will return to Saudi Arabia from January 5-19, 2024 as Branch will look to better his best W2RC season in the 2024 edition.
