Ricky Brabec wins the final stage and secures a podium spot in the Morocco Rally

The Morocco Rally has concluded with a Honda CRF450 RALLY on the final rostrum. Monster Energy Honda Team’s American rider Ricky Brabec, who triumphed on the final day, takes third place overall for the second year running, in what proved to be as a gruelling rally.

 American Ricky Brabec wrapped up the Morocco Rally with a big smile after prevailing in the final stage. The rider from the Monster Energy Honda Team also secured a final place on the rally’s podium as the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship season concludes. Brabec finishes the campaign in fifth overall position. This wasn’t the first time that Brabec has won a world championship stage – he did so last year with a partial victory in this same race with an identical third-place podium outcome.

Brabec’s Monster Energy Honda Team comrade, the Portuguese rider Paulo Gonçalves, finished the stage in fifth position, which earned him fifth place overall too. Paulo, who had been in the battle for the race leadership, suffered a fall in the third stage that forced him to ride a more prudent pace to ensure an injury-free finish. The rally is the final one before the season’s blue riband event: the Dakar 2019. Paulo ends the world championship season in fourth overall position.

José Ignacio Cornejo, who finished the stage in the fifteenth position and occupied eighth place overall, also rode cautiously. Cornejo, despite not participating in two world championship events, finishes runner up in the junior category.

 The Morocco Rally was the final date for the Monster Energy Honda Team before the 2019 Dakar Rally, which begins in January in Peru.