Monster Energy Yamaha Rally Team Enjoys Positive Results At 2022 Dakar Rally
The 2022 Dakar Rally has reached its conclusion with Monster Energy Yamaha Rally Team’s Adrien Van Beveren and Andrew Short successfully completing the world’s toughest rally raid well inside the overall top 10. For Adrien Van Beveren, his encouraging form throughout the race saw him impressively lead the event on two separate occasions. Taking the race for overall victory down to the very last stage, the Frenchman eventually missed out on a top-three finish by the narrowest of margins. Andrew Short also enjoyed a largely positive time at the Dakar with the American claiming eight top-10 stage results on his way to finishing a highly commendable eighth overall.
Besides Ross Branch being ruled out of the event due to injury following a fall on stage seven, the 2022 Dakar Rally has been an incredibly successful one for the entire Monster Energy Yamaha Rally Team. In addition to the riders’ Yamaha WR450F Rally machines running flawlessly throughout the entire event, Adrien Van Beveren narrowly missed out on the overall podium with Andrew Short demonstrating just what he’s capable of during the race.
Equalling his best overall finish at the Dakar, Adrien Van Beveren has placed an impressive fourth overall at the 2022 edition of the iconic event. Leading the race on two separate occasions this year and placing no lower than fourth overall throughout the entire rally, the Frenchman was undoubtedly in fine form throughout the competition. Delivering pin-point accuracy with his navigation day-after-day, Adrien delivered one of the stand-out performances in the motorcycle category.
If not for a frustrating navigational error on stage one, which affected him as well as many of his rivals, Andrew Short may well have joined Adrien in the top five overall. After losing considerable time early on, the 39-year-old was faultless through the remaining stages at the Dakar as he worked his way up the leaderboard. At the end of 12 stages and almost 40 hours of racing, Andrew secured eighth overall, narrowly missing out on placing seventh by just five seconds.
Securing further positive results at the Dakar Rally for Yamaha, Camelia Liparoti, driving her YXZ1000R Prototype, posted strong stage results throughout the event to claim sixth overall in the Light Prototype class.
Adrien Van Beveren – Monster Energy Yamaha Rally Team
“The race is over and I have mixed feelings about it, but on the whole it has been a really positive race for myself and the team. I’m really happy to have finished the race, the first time since 2017, so I’m really pleased about that. But on the other hand, it looked certain that I would podium or maybe even take the win. But with the issue yesterday, that’s just part of rally racing and it wasn’t meant to be. I’m really happy for the team. Everyone has worked super hard and my bike was amazing. I have no regrets about anything and I gave it everything that I had. To be fighting for the win at the Dakar, it was an amazing experience and now I’m looking forward to the future.”
Andrew Short – Monster Energy Yamaha Rally Team
“I’m so happy to have reached the finish line. The Dakar is such a crazy race that finishing is a great achievement in itself. The final stage was pretty cool, a bit tight a twisty with some nice terrain. Before the rally I hoped to finish higher and it wasn’t through lack of effort or anything – it was solely down to the issue I had on stage one. I did the best I could after that but that’s just how rally is sometimes. The team have been amazing. They built a great bike for me, which didn’t miss a beat all race and I’m happy that we had two guys in the top 10.”
Alexandre Kowalski – Yamaha Europe Off-Road Racing Manager
“The 2022 Dakar is done and it’s been a great race for the team. I’m really proud of what the riders have achieved, which of course would not have been possible without the great technicians and mechanics that we have assembled. The work that the whole team has put in throughout the last 12 months has always been positive and we’ve made such great progress. For sure it was a shame for us to lose Ross halfway through, just as he was really gaining some momentum but this is the sport sometimes and fortunately it is just a relatively minor injury. It was really nice to see Andrew improve throughout the rally after a difficult first day. He was strong and consistent all the way through, which is really encouraging, and to reach the top 10 after what happened is a strong result. Adrien was in really good form at this race. He was no lower than fourth overall from stage one onwards and that shows his ability and his consistency. He rode really well, which brought a lot of positivity energy to the team and it’s unfortunate what happened to him on stage 11. Overall, this Dakar has been really strong for the team, with the journey to here beginning one year ago. To see the hard work and dedication from everyone involved pay off, it’s really satisfying. I’m really proud of what we have achieved.”
Dakar Rally 2022
Stage 12 Provisional Classification
1. Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) 1:40:00
2. Toby Price (KTM) 1:40:18 + 0:00:18
3. Jose Ignacio Cornejo (Honda) 1:40:29 + 0:00:29
4. Joan Barreda (Honda) 1:41:13 + 0:01:13
5. Mason Klein (KTM) 1:41:23 + 0:01:23
6. Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) 1:42:38 + 0:02:38
…
13. Andrew Short (Yamaha) 1:45:53 + 0:05:53
15. Adrien Van Beveren (Yamaha) 1:46:36 + 0:06:036
Dakar Rally 2022
Overall Provisional Classification (after stage 12)
1. Sam Sunderland (GASGAS) 38:47:30
2. Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) 38:50:57 + 0:03:27
3. Matthias Walkner (KTM) 38:54:17 + 0:06:47
4. Adrien Van Beveren (Yamaha) 39:06:11 + 0:18:41
5. Joan Barreda (Honda) 39:13:12 + 0:25:42
6. Jose Ignacio Cornejo (Honda) 39:25:36 + 0:38:06
…
8. Andrew Short (Yamaha) 39:33:38 + 0:46:08
