Branch’s Dakar exploits sets up promising season
Ross Branch is sitting 11th in 2023 FIM World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) standings after his Dakar Rally 2023 exploits. The rider was unlucky to finish 26th in the general rankings at the race held in Saudi Arabia earlier this month. The 26th finish at the Dakar Rally is the furthest Branch has finished at the Dakar Rally having finished in 13th place on his debut in 2019 and a 21st finish in his second appearance in 2020. The biker emerged from the rally with his head held high as he bagged two stage wins in the two-week long race, capping his best performance at the competition.
The Dakar Rally is the first round of the W2RC and Branch’s exploits have done him some favour ahead of the long season. Despite sitting outside the top 10, Branch’s current 11th spot is the highest he had achieved after round one since making his debut in the W2RC in 2021. In the 2021 and 2022 editions, Branch failed to finish the Dakar Rally and found himself chasing the leading pack for the W2RC honours. This time around having positioned himself just a spot outside the top 10, Branch is set for a promising season in the W2RC.
He is not new to the W2RC as this will be his third appearance in the championship. In his debut, Branch had the world of motorsport talking after winning round two of the W2RC, the Rally Kazakhstan. The biker had started on a high note with a stage win to take home with. However, he was unfortunate to finish outside the top 10 in his debut season. In the 2022 edition, Branch once again got to a slower start as misfortunes returned at the Dakar Rally. He once did not finish the rally, and was miles behind the leaders in W2RC after the first round. From the Dakar Rally, Branch finished 13th in the second round before an eighth place finish in the third round while he secured a 10th place finish in the final round. This took the Jwaneng-raised rider to 13th place in overall standings with 21 points. This season, Branch has amassed just less than half of the points he collected in the previous season as he sits 11th with eight points. This could only motivate the Kalahari Ferrari not to take the brakes off the paddle and challenge for the honours.
Leading the pack is Argentine, Kevin Benavides with 38 points. Branch and fellow competitors will head to UAE for the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge from February 26 to March 3, 2023. From then, the next challenge will be the Sonora Rally to be held in April in Mexico. The Desadio Ruta 40 will form this year’s fourth round and will be held in Argentina in August. The Rallye Du Maroc will conclude the season in October and it will be held in Morocco.