Team Honda's Barreda 2nd in Stage 5 of 2015 Dakar Rally & Holds Lead; Goncalves 5th Today, Still 3rd Overall in Bike Standings

Honda Racing Corporation

Stage Report

Thursday, Jan 8th 2015

Dakar Rally   2015 Dakar Rally Stage 5   Noteworthy effort from Team HRC in the fifth stage   Joan Barreda accomplishes the mission of fending off challengers in the fifth stage of the Rally Dakar 2015. The Spaniard aboard the Honda CRF450 RALLY keeps his distance from his closest rival, as fellow Team HRC members also remain among the front-runners.   The caravan continued to snake its way across the South American continent, leaving Copiapó behind, with destination Antofagasta on the Pacific coast, as a hazardous, rapid-paced stage full of broken up track and fesh-fesh, sped its way across the Atacama desert.   It was Joan Barreda, as yesterday’s stage winner, who set off from the front this morning with a clear objective of consolidating his overall lead and minimizing risks. He was eventually reached by Marc Coma, as the two continued their now habitual duel, finishing the stage together. Team HRC riders Paulo Gonçalves, Hélder Rodrigues and Jeremías Israel all experienced various types of setbacks over the 458 km distance today, but were nevertheless all able to improve on their overall standings.   The day’s fourth position for Paulo helps solidify his third overall spot, with both Hélder and Jeremías finishing tucked in behind this year’s world championship runner-up.   A prudent Laia Sanz continues to keep up recent form, finishing 21st on the day, and retaking 17th on the overall leaderboard. The three Honda South America Rally Team riders, Javier Pizzolito, Daniel Gouet and Jean Azevedo, likewise, put in consistent performances among the front-runners. The Argentine rider was once again the best of the bunch, reliably up in the first fifteen of the stage, and 13th overall. In the general standings Gouet lies highest in 21st. TOMORROW’S STAGE STAGE 6 – Friday, 9th January Antofagasta (CHI) – Iquique (CHI) Liaison: 369 km Special stage: 319 km A celebration in Iquique The route will then climb up the Pacific coast towards Iquique. The motorcycles will cover a few extra kilometres as part of the special stage: a detour will take them into endurance-type terrain and onto mountain ridges with views over the sea. All the competitors will then explore the dunes which run alongside and dominate the coastline. But they won’t arrive at the bivouac via the famous descent. For the first time, the half-way point in the race will be marked on a podium in the centre of Iquique. The encounter between riders and their fans will be emotional, following the earthquake which affected the region at the start of the year.

Joan Barreda 2nd +2'16 I led off today until Marc caught up with me. He kept up a cracking pace and I tried to stay as close to him as possible. After the refuelling he really pushed hard. There was a lot of navigation in this very fast stage, as well as a lot of fesh-fesh and stones. The final part was pretty dangerous. I’m happy to be still out in front. We are taking it step by step.

Paulo Goncalves 5th +4'37 Today was quite a hard and complicated stage full of stones, fesh-fesh, and holes everywhere. I started out from 12th position, and there was a lot of dust, and I had to be careful, which made me lose a bit of time up until kilometre 100. In the final part, I had a little difficulty finding one of the waypoints and dropped some time. Tomorrow’s starting position is good and I hope to keep up the concentration without making too many mistakes.

Helder Rodrigues 6th +6'35 It was a tough one. I began in 20th place. There was loads of dust, and overtaking the other riders was practically impossible. After the refuelling, I managed to get by some of the other riders and keep up a good pace, always attacking. There is just over a week left and we have to keep the pressure up until the end.

Jeremias Israel 7th +7'10 I’m pleased to have finished the stage and be among the top group. At times I pushed really hard, and managed to overtake some of the other riders. When I caught up with Walkner, I let him go ahead of me, and keep with him until the finish-line. I think we can put that down as a good stage, and look forward to the ones coming up.

Laia Sanz 19th +26'46 I’m tired. It was a tough one this stage. There were a lot of dangers too. I had to keep such a tight grip on the handlebars that by the time I’d got through, I hardly had any strength left in my hands. I’m pleased that I didn’t lose any time. The important thing is to not come off, and I’ve been able to do that. Now, we are off to prepare tomorrow’s stage. Let’s hope that it goes well.

Javier Pizzolito 13th + 16'49 I knew that the stage would be hard with a lot of rocks, which is the type of terrain that I find the hardest. In 2012 I had a serious accident on the same track, which is why I was taking it so carefully today. I think that the result has been very good and I’ve been able to get up among the main group at the front for tomorrow where there will be less dust.

Results Stage 5 Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap 1 COMA Marc SPA KTM Red Bull Rally Factory KTM 4:38'16 2 BARREDA Joan SPA Team HRC Honda + 2'16 3 QUINTANILLA Pablo CHI KTM KTM + 2'40 4 SVITKO Stefan SLO Slovnaft Team KTM + 3'54 5 GONCALVES Paulo POR Team HRC Honda + 4'37 6 RODRIGUES Helder POR Team HRC Honda + 6'35 7 ISRAEL Jeremias CHI Team HRC Honda + 7'10 8 WALKNER Mathias AUT KTM Red Bull Rally Factory KTM + 7'24 9 DUCLOS Alain FRA Sherco Rally Factory Sherco + 9'57 10 PRICE Toby AUS KTM AUS Rally Factory KTM + 10'05 11 VILADOMS Jordi SPA KTM Red Bull Rally Factory KTM + 13'48 12 PEDRERO Joan SPA Pont Grup Yamaha JVO Yamaha + 14'25 13 PIZZOLITO Javier ARG Honda South America Rally Team Honda + 16'49 14 JAKES Ivan SLO Microstep Industry Team KTM + 16'55 15 FARIA Ruben POR KTM Red Bull Rally Factory KTM + 17'24 16 CASTEU David FRA Team Casteu KTM + 17'47 17 VAN NIEKERK Riaan RSA Brother Link KTM Rally KTM + 22'52 18 BOTTURI Alessandro ITA Yamaha Racing Yamaha + 23'31 19 SANZ Laia SPA Team HRC Honda + 26'46 20 METGE Mickael FRA Yamaha Racing Yamaha + 29'04 21 GOUET Daniel CHI Honda South America Rally Team Honda + 31'59 22 CABRERA Patricio CHI Kawasaki Chile Team Kawasaki + 32'40 23 GYENES Emanuel ROU Autonet Motorcycle Team KTM + 35'07 24 PAIN Olivier FRA Yamaha Racing Yamaha + 35'14 25 VOGELS Hans NDL Team Hans Vogels KTM + 35'29 37 AZEVEDO Jean BRA Honda South America Rally Team Honda + 51'31

Rider Standings Provisional Standings after Stage 5 Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap 1 BARREDA Joan SPA Team HRC Honda 17:51'05 2 COMA Marc SPA KTM Red Bull Rally Factory KTM + 10'33 3 GONCALVES Paulo POR Team HRC Honda + 22'50 4 QUINTANILLA Pablo CHI KTM KTM + 31'06 5 VILADOMS Jordi SPA KTM Red Bull Rally Factory KTM + 36'23 6 FARIA Ruben POR KTM Red Bull Rally Factory KTM + 38'13 7 WALKNER Mathias AUT KTM Red Bull Rally Factory KTM + 38'36 8 PRICE Toby AUS KTM AUS Rally Factory KTM + 39'54 9 SVITKO Stefan SLO Slovnaft Team KTM + 42'05 10 RODRIGUES Helder POR Team HRC Honda + 43'24 11 ISRAEL Jeremias CHI Team HRC Honda + 26'46 17 SANZ Laia SPA Team HRC Honda + 1:12'32 21 GOUET Daniel CHI Honda South America Rally Team Honda + 1:42'26 28 AZEVEDO Jean BRA Honda South America Rally Team Honda + 2:37'37 50 PIZZOLITO Javier ARG Honda South America Rally Team Honda + 4:51'27

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Videos These videos are available on YouTube although may be unlisted. Dakar Rally 2015 Team HRC Stage 4 Dakar Rally 2015 Team HRC Stage 4 - Behind the Scenes

Location Information   The greatest and toughest rally in the world, the Dakar’s history has been written in the heart of some of the world’s most stunning deserts and belongs to the world of the greatest sporting challenges of our time. Both a motor race and an orienteering challenge, the Dakar Rally pits…read more.