Dakar 2015
Sunday 10 January
7th stage: Iquique - Uyuni
Link section: 392 km – Special: 321 km – Link section: 4 km – Total: 717 km First the first time in the history of the Dakar, the three categories (motorcycles, cars and trucks) are taking part in three different races over three different itineraries. This morning after the traditional rest day, the bike contingent left Iquique at 5h and headed out to the start of the Special that took them into Bolivia. At the finish, they were met with a marathon bivouac, that is without assistance, and above all the legendary hospitality of the Bolivians. Everyone knows that the race is not over till the chequered flag goes down on the last day. Today, Joan Barreda had a crash at km 200. The danger was marked in the road book but mud made his braking distance longer than expected. Happily, the Honda rider is not hurt but he broke his handlebar and finished the Special one-handed. The Honda rider will have to repair his bike alone and one of his team mates will have to sacrifice his handlebars. Paolo Goncalves (Honda) is revealing his tactics and while he wants to keep close to his team mate and leader, he certainly plans to be in a good position to get on to the podium or even clinch the win. The Portuguese rider won the leg in 3h56'00, 14 seconds ahead of Marc Coma (KTM), who clawed back 6 minutes from Barreda on the leader board, Matthias Walkner (KTM), who continues to astonish, Pablo Quintanilla (KTM) and Toby Price (KTM). Juan Pedrero (Yamaha) came in 6th ahead of Alain Duclos (Sherco) and Helder Rodrigues (Honda), who set out in first place. Alessandro Botturi took 13th position ahead of Faria (KTM) and Casteu (KTM). Michael Metge (Yamaha) crashed and came in 17th. In quad, Sanabria (Yamaha) won the Special by 5' ahead of Rafal Sonik (Yamaha) and Ignacio Casale (Yamaha). Tomorrow the motorcyclists return to Iquique after a group start at the Salar d''Uyuni. TOMORROW’S STAGE
STAGE 8 – Monday, 12th January
Uyuni (BOL) – Iquique (CHI)
Liaison: 24 km
Special stage: 784 km
The Salar: unconditionally
The Dakar bows to the laws of nature. Hence, the weather will decide which route will be taken to leave Bolivia. If it’s dry, the start could take place in the Salar de Uyuni, for a 100km route across a smooth road of white salt: full throttle and foot to the floor! The route then slows down abruptly, with the longest part of the special stage taking place on more technical mountain terrain. The day will end with more than 40km of dunes, concluding with the vertiginous descent to Iquique.
Paulo Goncalves
1st 3:56'00
This stage was great, I started in the front, and that’s always difficult as it’s very easy to lose time as you open the road. I pushed very hard, to stay at the front of the race. I’m very happy, of course, with my result today. I never stopped pushing until the finish. This stage was very hard, mud, stones, and many bumps, unbelievably hard, but I won it and that’s great.
Helder Rodrigues
8th + 4'05
Today was a really gruelling stage, I started in third position and caught the guys in front of me, then I stayed with them as our speed was good. In the middle of the stage it started raining and became dangerous, the bike was sliding and it was really dangerous at high speed. Fifty kilometres before the end of the stage I got a headache but I managed to finish. Now I need to recover before the second stage tomorrow, we have a lot of work to do on the bikes as we picked up a lot of mud.
Joan Barreda
12th + 6'13
It was a tough stage where you had to be careful, but when I came to a muddy section around kilometre 200, while I was breaking before a danger marked on the road book, the bike slid and I crashed. The handlebars were damaged, so I had to do the last 120 kilometres just with the right hand. I was pushing hard to lose a minimum of time, but that was not easy. We are now at the marathon stage, we are a great team and we will solve the problem with my teammates.
Jeremias Israel
17th + 10'02
It was a really special stage today with the rain, everything changed a little bit, I took it really easy as there were a lot of dangers. The landscape was nice today, the dirt was good except in some muddy sections, but my personal result at this point is not important. For me it’s very important to support and help Paolo and Joan and to back them up, and hopefully make it to the finish in the number one spot.
Laia Sanz
21th + 13'24
It was a good day, a fast stage but you had to be careful in the mud, as we ran into the rain on the way. I think I had a good rhythm, and the good point is that the bike and myself are in good shape so that’s perfect for the second part of the marathon stage tomorrow. I feel better now after the rest-day, it was important today to finish the stage without problems. The spectators was amazing, there were people everywhere to support us and that’s great.
2015 Dakar Rally Sunday, January 11th 2015
Stage Stage 7 Dakar Rally
Results Stage 7
1GONCALVES PauloPORTeam HRCHonda3:56'00
2COMA MarcSPAKTM Red Bull Rally FactoryKTM+ 00'14
3WALKNER MathiasAUTKTM Red Bull Rally FactoryKTM+ 00'30
4QUINTANILLA PabloCHIKTMKTM+ 1'32
5PRICE TobyAUSKTM AUS Rally FactoryKTM+ 1'49
6PEDRERO JoanSPAPont Grup Yamaha JVOYamaha+ 3'20
7DUCLOS AlainFRASherco Rally FactorySherco+ 3'48
8RODRIGUES HelderPORTeam HRCHonda+ 4'05
9SVITKO StefanSLOSlovnaft TeamKTM+ 5'09
10VAN NIEKERK RiaanRSABrother Link KTM RallyKTM+ 6'06
11VILADOMS JordiSPAKTM Red Bull Rally FactoryKTM+ 6'10
12BARREDA JoanSPATeam HRCHonda+ 6'13
13BOTTURI AlessandroITAYamaha RacingYamaha+ 6'13
14FARIA RubenPORKTM Red Bull Rally FactoryKTM+ 6'41
15CASTEU DavidFRATeam CasteuKTM+ 8'13
16JAKES IvanSLOMicrostep Industry TeamKTM+ 9'24
17ISRAEL JeremiasCHITeam HRCHonda+ 10'02
18VOGELS HansNDLTeam Hans VogelsKTM+ 11'20
19PLANET FabienFRASherco Rally FactorySherco+ 12'42
20DE SOULTRAIT XavierFRAXavier de SoultraitYamaha+ 13'09
21SANZ LaiaSPATeam HRCHonda+ 13'24
23GOUET DanielCHIHonda South America Rally TeamHonda+ 15'13
25PIZZOLITO JavierARGHonda South America Rally TeamHonda+ 16'57
31AZEVEDO JeanBRAHonda South America Rally TeamHonda+ 21'47
Stage Stage 7 Dakar Rally
Provisional Standings after Stage 7
1BARREDA JoanSPATeam HRCHonda25:40'48
2COMA MarcSPAKTM Red Bull Rally FactoryKTM+ 6'28
3GONCALVES PauloPORTeam HRCHonda+ 10'59
4QUINTANILLA PabloCHIKTMKTM+ 25'16
5PRICE TobyAUSKTM AUS Rally FactoryKTM+ 29'20
6RODRIGUES HelderPORTeam HRCHonda+ 33'56
7FARIA RubenPORKTM Red Bull Rally FactoryKTM+ 40'23
8SVITKO StefanSLOSlovnaft TeamKTM+ 40'55
9DUCLOS AlainFRASherco Rally FactorySherco+ 50'31
10CASTEU DavidFRATeam CasteuKTM+ 1:16'52
14SANZ LaiaSPATeam HRCHonda+ 1:30'20
16ISRAEL JeremiasCHITeam HRCHonda+ 1:44'37
18GOUET DanielCHIHonda South America Rally TeamHonda+ 2:02'48
28AZEVEDO JeanBRAHonda South America Rally TeamHonda+ 3:27'10
39PIZZOLITO JavierARGHonda South America Rally TeamHonda+ 5:14'35