Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Team Honda's Rodrigues & Goncalves 1-2 in Stage 9 of 2015 Dakar Rally, Goncalves 2nd in Overall Bike Standings



























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Helder Rodrigues wins ninth stage. Four Honda CRF450 RALLYs among top five spots
Stage ReportTuesday, Jan 13th 2015

  Dakar Rally

 

2015 Dakar Rally Stage 9

 

Helder Rodrigues wins ninth stage. Four Honda CRF450 RALLYs among top five spots

 
Immediate Team HRC response to yesterday’s ill-fated eighth Dakar stage, with four Honda CRF450 RALLY bikes occupying the first five positions. Portuguese Helder Rodrigues triumphant in the tough special stage in Calama.
 
Great day all round for Team HRC, registering a fifth victory so far in this edition of the Dakar 2015, and picking up a further one-two with Helder clinching the honours and an in-form Paulo Goncalves seizing runner-up spot. The Laia Sanz crusade up the overall rankings continues, the Spanish ace claiming eighth in a complicated special.
 
Helder Rodrigues sped his way to top line of today’s scorecard, over a 450 kilometre timed special, his second triumph thus far in the campaign. He had his work cut out, on a route that tackled broken-up paths, rocky terrain, and dirt track, requiring riders to be at their technical and navigational best just to make headway. Tucked in behind was fellow-countryman and team-mate from HRC, Paulo Goncalves, who whittled almost four minutes off Marc Coma’s final time. The Portuguese rider stands just 5’28” off the overall race leader.
 
Joan Barreda, after conceding three hours in yesterday’s exhausting marathon, was once again back in the hunt, with the special stage heading from Iquique to Calama, just the type of terrain suited to the Spaniard. Had it not been for a mild hitch in finding a waypoint, the man from Castellon could have improved on his final fourth place finish, on a day where Team HRC gave an excellent display of teamwork and bravado.
 
Jeremias Israel, likewise, spent much of the day amongst the front-runners, but a failure to find a waypoint and the consequent fear of running out of fuel, obliged the Chilean to incur a penalty that drops him down the overall order.

Javier Pizzolito of Honda South America Rally Team, once again excelled himself, after holding the leading position for a great part of yesterday’s race, the Argentinian Cross-Country Rallies champion finished in fifth on the day.
 
Follow our riders in the race here !!

TOMORROW’S STAGE

STAGE 10 – Wednesday, 14th January
Calama (CHI) – Cachi (ARG)

Liaison:
 520 km
Special stage: 371 km

Breathtaking

The bikers will set off for their second marathon stage! After the Chile-Argentina border, this time the day’s special stage will start on the Salinas Grandes, more than 3,600m above sea level. The altitude should curb the competitors’ enthusiasm and cool down their engines. The more technical final phase will separate the toughest of them from the rest. For the Liaison, the route will then follow the Paso de l’Acay, at an altitude of 4,970m.

 

Helder Rodrigues

1st 5:06'14

I’m fine. I’ve worked very hard for this Dakar and to be up front. Yesterday, I lost it all and now I don’t want to take any chances, but I will give everything to win. Today I started out from behind, I caught up with Paulo and Joan, but I got lost in the dunes. Later, at the refuelling I saw that I was going well and I kept pushing. It was a hard day with a lot of navigation and loads of stones on the track, but I’m very happy with the way things went.
Helder Rodrigues

Paulo Goncalves

2nd + 3'51

Today was a good stage. I started out from behind looking to make up time. At kilometre 326, there was a waypoint that was quite difficult to find and I dropped a bit of time. There were 220 km still left to push and I clawed back some time, finished well, and cut down the distance in the overall standings. I’m very pleased with Helder’s win, and I believe that it has been a great day for Team HRC.
Paulo Goncalves

Joan Barreda

4th +19'47

It was tough. Especially after yesterday’s stage when we arrived back at the bivouac exhausted after having to push the bikes so far yesterday. We did a good job today and we intend to finish the rally with the same working method that we have used up until now. We will do everything to help our team-mate Paulo achieve victory.
Joan Barreda

Laia Sanz

14th + 43'20

Today was a very hard, physical day, with some difficult navigation, but it went really well for me. I didn’t make any mistakes, and that’s what it’s all about, carrying on like that until the end. Let’s see how tomorrow’s marathon stage goes tomorrow. We’ve already seen that it doesn’t need anything spectacular, just hard work and no errors.
Laia Sanz

Jeremias Israel

15th + 51'30

It was a complicated day for me. The route and the navigation were difficult for me. I was pushing hard with Helder and after the refuelling I had to stop and think about what I had to do. I missed a waypoint as I decided not to stay out there in the middle of the desert. The Dakar isn’t over yet and we are going to continue pushing.
Jeremias Israel

Javier Pizzolito

5th + 20'07

I’m happy because I’ve found a rhythm: out in front with no dust. My physical state is really good and now I hope to have some good stages down in Argentina and put the problems of the first few days behind me.
Javier Pizzolito

Results Stage 9

Pos.RiderNumNationTeamTime/Gap
1RODRIGUES HelderPORTeam HRC5:06'14
2GONCALVES PauloPORTeam HRC+ 3'51
3COMA MarcSPAKTM Red Bull Rally Factory+ 7'34
4BARREDA JoanSPATeam HRC+ 19'47
5PIZZOLITO JavierARGHonda South America Rally Team+ 20'07
6SVITKO StefanSLOSlovnaft Team+ 21'40
7WALKNER MathiasAUTKTM Red Bull Rally Factory+ 22'02
8PRICE TobyAUSKTM AUS Rally Factory+ 23'09
9QUINTANILLA PabloCHIKTM+ 23'15
10PAIN OlivierFRAYamaha Racing+ 28'09
11CASTEU DavidFRATeam Casteu+ 28'12
12FARIA RubenPORKTM Red Bull Rally Factory+ 34'22
13JAKES IvanSLOMicrostep Industry Team+ 38'18
14SANZ LaiaSPATeam HRC+ 43'20
15ISRAEL JeremiasCHITeam HRC+ 51'30
16CECI PaoloITAChavo Salvatierra Racing+ 57'41
17ARANA TxominSPAGOR Sport+ 58'53
18PRZYGONSKI KubaPOLKTM Red Bull Rally Factory+ 1:02'11
19KLYMCIW OndrejCZEBarth Racing+ 1:05'10
20PEDRERO JoanSPAPont Grup Yamaha JVO+ 1:08'16
21CABRERA PatricioCHIKawasaki Chile Team+ 1:10'26
22VOGELS HansNDLTeam Hans Vogels+ 1:13'44
23DE SOULTRAIT XavierFRAXavier de Soultrait+ 1:14'24
24AZEVEDO JeanBRAHonda South America Rally Team+ 1:15'13

Rider Standings

Provisional Standings after Stage 9

Pos.RiderNumNationTeamTime/Gap
1COMA MarcSPAKTM Red Bull Rally Factory34:05'00
2GONCALVES PauloPORTeam HRC+ 5'28
3QUINTANILLA PabloCHIKTM+ 26'52
4PRICE TobyAUSKTM AUS Rally Factory+ 31'31
5SVITKO StefanSLOSlovnaft Team+ 40'36
6FARIA RubenPORKTM Red Bull Rally Factory+ 1:01'22
7CASTEU DavidFRATeam Casteu+ 1'31'26
8SANZ LaiaSPATeam HRC+ 1:54'37
9JAKES IvanSLOMicrostep Industry Team+ 2:18'31
10PAIN OlivierFRAYamaha Racing+ 2:36'13
11RODRIGUES HelderPORTeam HRC+ 3:18'07
18BARREDA JoanSPATeam HRC+ 4:23'51
21PIZZOLITO JavierARGHonda South America Rally Team+ 5:21'28
25AZEVEDO JeanBRAHonda South America Rally Team+ 5:55'20
30ISRAEL JeremiasCHITeam HRC+ 6:40'16

Videos

These videos are available on YouTube although may be unlisted.
Team HRC Dakar Rally 2015 - Stage 8Team HRC Dakar Rally 2015 - Stage 8Team HRC Dakar Rally 2015 - Stage 8 - 
Behind the ScenesTeam HRC Dakar Rally 2015 - Stage 8 - 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.
Dakar Rally
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