Tosha Schareina is a new face to the Honda camp, having switched over from KTM between the Dakar and Sonora Rallies. Despite Sonora being his first time racing with the Japanese brand, it did not take long for him to find success as he won the RallyGP class for Stage #1 on Monday.
While technically racing as a privateer unlike those at Monster Energy Honda Rally Team, he is receiving factory support from Honda Racing Corporation akin to Joan Barreda at the Dakar Rally. Schareina rode alongside Monster Honda team member Pablo Quintanilla in the early portion of the stage before taking the lead seventy-nine kilometres in.
Schareina ultimately eged out Daniel Sanders for the stage win by just six seconds. He is the second rider not competing for the World Rally-Raid Championship to win a RallyGP stage in 2023 after Barreda claimed Stage #4 at Dakar.
“What a start! My first stage victory in the world championship,” wrote Schareina. “I’m super happy and focus to open stage tomorrow. Thanks Honda team for the amazing work.”
Rally2’s Bradley Cox, who had an impressive Prologue when he beat the RallyGP class to be the fastest bike overall, lost signal on his ERTF GPS system after fifty-four kilometres. Forced to figure out his path by following the one put down by those in front, he finished sixth in class and eighteen minutes behind winner Romain Dumontier, though the FIM eventually gave him a mulligan by removing thirteen minutes from his time for the issue. This promoted him up a spot to fifth over Konrad Dąbrowski.
Neels Theric scored Kove Moto‘s first ever stage podium in third after Dumontier and Jacob Argubright.
The 170-km stage, which began and ended in Hermosillo, was exceptionally twisty and, as Skyler Howes described it, “quite tricky”. The fifty-kilometre mark was a nightmare for Howes and his fellow riders as virtually everyone got lost while trying to figure out the correct path and followed each other down the incorrect one; some including Howes attempted to rejoin the route by cutting through cacti and vegetation, causing them to lose time.
“At around kilometre 50, we made a navigation mistake that cost us all some time,” Howes explained. “It was just a big flat area with a lot of tracks to choose from and we just got on the wrong track, and so that keeps pushing you off course a little until you can correct it. I tried to compensate by riding through the bushes, but there was a lot of cactuses and greenery that slowed me up and so I got lost for a couple of minutes there.”
Even the FIA competitors struggled at KM 50 as Cristian Baumgart, Guerlain Chicherit, Claude Fournier, and Eduard Pons received speeding penalties while going through it and another waypoint three kilometres later; drivers were limited to 50 km/h at KM 50 and 30 km/h at KM 53. Chicherit was busted in both sectors, and the added three minutes dropped him off the T1 podium down to fifth.
“Everyone was caught at the same 50km point,” commented T4 driver Shinsuke Umeda. “It was difficult to understand because the speed limit was changed in this section.”
On the flip side of the FIA categories, Toyota Hilux drivers Nasser Al-Attiyah and Yazeed Al-Rajhi swapped their Prologue finishing positions with the former winning. With Chicherit’s penalties, fellow Prodrive Hunter pilot Sébastien Loeb joined the Hiluxes on the T1 podium.
Another Hilux of Eugenio Amos rolled over after hitting a berm at high speed while cornering, though he and co-driver Paolo Ceci were unharmed. While out of overall contention as retiring from the stage meant a thirteen-hour, thirty-minute penalty, much of the damage to Amos’ vehicle was cosmetic and he can rejoin the rally upon repairs.
Parts failures knocked T3 points leader Seth Quintero to the bottom of the order, which Mattias Ekström and João Ferreira used to their advantage to take the top two spots. Ekström notched his second win in T3 by a minute.
“Today will always be papa’s birthday,” said Ekström, whose late father Bengt was born on 24 April. “This stage win is for him.”
Stage #1 winners
| Class | Number | Competitor | Team | Time |
| T1 | 201 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Toyota Gazoo Racing | 1:32:06 |
| T3 | 308 | Mattias Ekström | South Racing Can-Am | 1:40:15 |
| T4 | 400 | Rokas Baciuška | Red Bull Can-Am Factory Racing | 1:44:50 |
| RallyGP | 68 | Tosha Schareina* | Honda Team | 1:33:25 |
| Rally2 | 17 | Romain Dumontier | HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing | 1:39:12 |
| Rally3 | 57 | Massimo Camurri | Freedom Rally Racing | 2:06:37 |
| Quad | 162 | Laisvydas Kancius | AG Dakar School | 1:59:07 |
| National Car/UTV | 101 | Erick Pucilek* | Erick Pucilek | 2:46:31 |
| National Enduro | 13 | Brendan Crow* | Brendan Crow | 2:25:03 |
| National Malle Moto | 7 | Matt Sutherland* | Matt Sutherland | 2:42:56 |
Leaders after Stage #1
| Class | Number | Competitor | Team | Time |
| T1 | 201 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Toyota Gazoo Racing | 1:32:06 |
| T3 | 308 | Mattias Ekström | South Racing Can-Am | 1:40:15 |
| T4 | 400 | Rokas Baciuška | Red Bull Can-Am Factory Racing | 1:44:50 |
| RallyGP | 68 | Tosha Schareina* | Honda Team | 2:17:57 |
| Rally2 | 17 | Romain Dumontier | HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing | 2:27:28 |
| Rally3 | 57 | Massimo Camurri | Freedom Rally Racing | 2:06:37 |
| Quad | 162 | Laisvydas Kancius | AG Dakar School | 2:54:27 |
