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

Honda Racing Corporation

Stage Report

Tuesday, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Results Stage 9 Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap 1 RODRIGUES Helder POR Team HRC Honda 5:06'14 2 GONCALVES Paulo POR Team HRC Honda + 3'51 3 COMA Marc SPA KTM Red Bull Rally Factory KTM + 7'34 4 BARREDA Joan SPA Team HRC Honda + 19'47 5 PIZZOLITO Javier ARG Honda South America Rally Team Honda + 20'07 6 SVITKO Stefan SLO Slovnaft Team KTM + 21'40 7 WALKNER Mathias AUT KTM Red Bull Rally Factory KTM + 22'02 8 PRICE Toby AUS KTM AUS Rally Factory KTM + 23'09 9 QUINTANILLA Pablo CHI KTM KTM + 23'15 10 PAIN Olivier FRA Yamaha Racing Yamaha + 28'09 11 CASTEU David FRA Team Casteu KTM + 28'12 12 FARIA Ruben POR KTM Red Bull Rally Factory KTM + 34'22 13 JAKES Ivan SLO Microstep Industry Team KTM + 38'18 14 SANZ Laia SPA Team HRC Honda + 43'20 15 ISRAEL Jeremias CHI Team HRC Honda + 51'30 16 CECI Paolo ITA Chavo Salvatierra Racing KTM + 57'41 17 ARANA Txomin SPA GOR Sport Yamaha + 58'53 18 PRZYGONSKI Kuba POL KTM Red Bull Rally Factory KTM + 1:02'11 19 KLYMCIW Ondrej CZE Barth Racing KTM + 1:05'10 20 PEDRERO Joan SPA Pont Grup Yamaha JVO Yamaha + 1:08'16 21 CABRERA Patricio CHI Kawasaki Chile Team Kawasaki + 1:10'26 22 VOGELS Hans NDL Team Hans Vogels KTM + 1:13'44 23 DE SOULTRAIT Xavier FRA Xavier de Soultrait Yamaha + 1:14'24 24 AZEVEDO Jean BRA Honda South America Rally Team Honda + 1:15'13

Rider Standings Provisional Standings after Stage 9 Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap 1 COMA Marc SPA KTM Red Bull Rally Factory KTM 34:05'00 2 GONCALVES Paulo POR Team HRC Honda + 5'28 3 QUINTANILLA Pablo CHI KTM KTM + 26'52 4 PRICE Toby AUS KTM AUS Rally Factory KTM + 31'31 5 SVITKO Stefan SLO Slovnaft Team KTM + 40'36 6 FARIA Ruben POR KTM Red Bull Rally Factory KTM + 1:01'22 7 CASTEU David FRA Team Casteu KTM + 1'31'26 8 SANZ Laia SPA Team HRC Honda + 1:54'37 9 JAKES Ivan SLO Microstep Industry Team KTM + 2:18'31 10 PAIN Olivier FRA Yamaha Racing Yamaha + 2:36'13 11 RODRIGUES Helder POR Team HRC Honda + 3:18'07 18 BARREDA Joan SPA Team HRC Honda + 4:23'51 21 PIZZOLITO Javier ARG Honda South America Rally Team Honda + 5:21'28 25 AZEVEDO Jean BRA Honda South America Rally Team Honda + 5:55'20 30 ISRAEL Jeremias CHI Team HRC Honda + 6:40'16

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