Saudi Arabia, Jan 5 : Spaniard Joan Barreda and Chilean rally driver Pablo Quintanilla had a top-two finish in the fourth stage of the Dakar Rally 2023.
Monster Energy Honda Team had a good day in the fourth stage as the Chilean rally driver Quintanilla made the second-best timing, 04:28:34s.He was just 16 seconds behind Spaniard Barreda (04:28:18s), who was also riding Honda CRF 450 Rally.
“This was a good day for me, another super tough stage but finally I have found my rhythm and I am quite happy about that.It is great also to be finally racing in the open desert, the kind of terrain I enjoy best.There is still a long way to go but I feel strong and motivated to keep going and fight for the lead,” Quintanilla said.
Howes Skyler of Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing was placed third with a timing of 04:29:23s followed by Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team’s Price Toby (04:30:42s).
Honda’s Adrien Van Beveren was fifth, two minutes and 37 seconds after Barreda.
Making honor to the true Dakar spirit, Jose Ignacio Cornejo (04:37:22s) stopped to help the Portuguese Joaquim Rodrigues, who had a severe crash.
Because of his noble gesture, Cornejo lost seven minutes and 35 seconds, and his time was later compensated in his final standing.He got 10th place in the stage.
In overall standings, Quintanilla is in seventh place, Van Beveren eighth and Cordejo 12th.
The fourth stage of the Dakar Rally 2023 was composed of 425 kilometers on the chronograph and a liaison of 152 km.The first 100 kilometers were true mountains of sand that gave riders the unique pleasure of climbing up and down.
Afterward, there was a sequence of sandy tracks – quite wet due to the heavy rain in the past days — in the return journey to Ha’il.
The fifth stage will start and finish at the Ha’il bivouac on Friday.
This stage will have 374 kilometers and a long liaison of 275 km.
In this second loop around the Saudi capital of off road racing, a field of small dunes with camel grass will give way to vast expanses peppered with dunes.Dune jumping will be key and will spell the difference between gaining and losing minutes in this slalom-type sector.
In this terrain, mastering soft sand without losing time is certainly a goal more at the hand of real experts.
bc/cs
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