The second week of the Dakar Rally began with a very good day for America’s Ricky Brabec (pictured), who claimed his first stage win of this 12 months’s rally on his Monster Vitality Honda by 23s over teammate Adrien van Beveren because the occasion resumed following the remainder day. Brabec moved as much as fourth general, whereas Daniel Sanders stays out entrance by 11m46s.
“The primary day on the second week is a protracted day,” mentioned Brabec, a two-time winner at Dakar. “They prefer to make you get a bit of little bit of relaxation after which put you proper again into it.
“It’s been a troublesome day. I noticed Ross [Branch] on the bottom, pushed the rescue button, noticed the helicopter simply up forward touchdown on the bottom. So I figured for me it was faster simply to get out of there and go to the helicopter instantly relatively than attempt to cellphone some rescue. However earlier than I even acquired to Ross, there was police already with them and he was acutely aware. So yeah, as soon as I did that, saved occurring my approach.
“The stage was fairly diversified, with a number of circumstances of terrain. The final little bit within the dunes was tough as a result of all of the native visitors to observe the race was loopy. There’s individuals going in all places! However yeah, all is nice. Six extra days, so we’ll preserve combating.”
Within the Final class, Guillaume de Mevius additionally had a breakthrough, claiming the primary stage win for himself and the newly revamped X-raid Mini. The Belgian ended the Toyota hegemony with 1m34s in hand over his teammate João Ferreira.
“For now, we’re sitting on the high of the leaderboard. We had a very good stage, lastly,” mentioned de Mevius. “Our purpose was to claw again a while and choose up factors for the championship, so we gave it every part we had. My automotive nonetheless bears a number of scars from final week and at present we did a little bit of flying, however fortunately we didn’t hit something. The remaining day can also be an opportunity to hit reset and we’re heading into a greater rhythm after some powerful moments within the first week. It’s not precisely my form of terrain. On the sand, I can maintain my very own, however I do know I’ve nonetheless acquired room to enhance.”
Dacia’s Nasser Al Attiyah completed third on the stage, 2m01s behind, and gained general floor on the leaders though he’s nonetheless 30m again in fourth. Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Hank Lategan stays on high general with a 7m16s lead over Yazeed Al Rajhi of Toyota Overdrive Racing and 22m27s over Mattias Ekstrom’s Ford Raptor.
Lategan’s seventh place was his worst stage end of the rally, and he admitted he was being cautious.
“It was a bit of little bit of a shaky begin, to be sincere. This morning moving into the primary little bit of dunes and particularly these tough tracks within the dunes was a bit of bit tough,” mentioned the South African. “We didn’t push actually exhausting — we tried to be protected at present, particularly with the approaching days and the bikes not opening the street, so we don’t actually wish to be near the entrance.”
America’s Brock Heger maintained his lead within the SSV class, ending third on at present’s stage. His Polaris teammate Xavier de Soultrait continues his comeback after shedding an hour to a mechanical concern on Stage 4. The Frenchman trailed residence “Chaleco” Lopez and his now 1h07m behind Heger general. “However final 12 months we misplaced one hour on the primary week after which we gained by two minutes,” mentioned de Soultrait. “So, we gained’t hand over and we’ll push as a lot as we will to win once more.”
America’s Corbin Leaverton took one other second-place end on the stage within the Challenger class, the place Nicholas Cavigliasso continues to guide general by 35 minutes over Leaverton’s Purple Bull Junior teammate Gonçalo Guerreiro.
