It was another long day at the Dakar Rally, with a total of 821 kilometers to complete between Al Duwadimi and Riyadh. Even so, the special section was reduced to a length of 345 kilometers starting around valleys in the hearth of the mountains before tackling again the wide open desert and the fast tracks.
After one week of racing and eight stages (one canceled) all contenders in the top positions are incredibly close to each other. Monster Energy Honda Team is playing its role reaching this point with a solid performance from all riders. Today Chilean Pablo Quintanilla was once again the fastest one in fourth position, followed by Frenchman Adrian Van Beveren (5th) and Chilean Jose Ignacio Cornejo (12th). In the overall standings, Quintanilla is ranked 5th with a gap of just 2:45 minutes to the leader, Van Beveren is in 6th position (2:49 minutes gap to the leader) and Nacho Cornejo ninth (19:32 minutes gap to the leader).
Tomorrow is time for the well deserved rest day at the Dakar Rally – it will be spent in Saudi Arabia capital Riyadh – so all riders will be transferred to a hotel and be able to recover their energy for another week of action. In the meantime, mechanics and engineers from the team will work hard to revise the Honda’s CRF 450 Rally in every detail – starting with a wash and continuing with the check of each component.