2016 Dakar Rally – Stage 10: Gonçalves Overcomes

Stage 10 of the 2016 Dakar Rally didn’t have much movement on the leaderboard, but it still was an eventful day, especially for the Honda factory riders.

With Paulo Gonçalves suffering a punctured radiator on Stage 9, and as a result a damaged engine, right before the start of the second marathon stage, things seemed dire for Honda.

Luckily, the HRC factory riders were able to replace the radiator, and inspect the engine. With the piston showing less damage from the heat than previously thought, only the compression needed to be adjusted on the Honda CRF450 Rally, in order for Gonçalves to continue onto Stage 10.

“The day was a positive one. I started behind the trucks and the tracks weren’t good. The sand was very unstable and I had to ride very smoothly. The good thing is that I arrived without problems,” said Gonçalves. “I’m still in the fight for the top positions and now we will set the bike up for an attack tomorrow because in the marathon stage I repaired the bike as best I could.”

“After what happened on Tuesday it will be very difficult to fight for the victory because the difference is very big. But it isn’t over yet. After the problems that I’ve had, to be here is very positive. I have to keep up a good pace every day, starting tomorrow.”

For the KTM rider’s part, things are well in-hand. Price rode on the course with Honda’s Kevin Benavides and KTM rider Stefan Svitko, the latter winning the stage, his first Dakar stage win ever. Price now leads Svitko by 23 minutes, and Husqvarna’s Pablo Quintanilla by over 42 minutes.

It will take a mechanical issue or serious crash to put Price’s Dakar in jeopardy, though there are still three more days of serious riding ahead.

As we like to remind our readers, anything can happen at the Dakar Rally – just ask the car competitors, who have seen several top drivers suffer major setbacks the last few days.

“Today was really good. I backed it off a bit to make sure we didn’t make any mistakes and I hit all my waypoints with a big smile on my face. There were no problems, no dramas. It was a strong day and now we just have to try to manage it (the rally) now until the end,” said Toby Price.

For Yamaha Racing, today saw the end of Alessandro Botturi’s 2016 Dakar Rally, as the Italian suffered a mechanical issue stemming from the extreme heat.

This will leave his teammate Helder Rodrigues, who currently sits in sixth place overall, to fend for himself. Rodrigues is not out of contention for a podium finish, if he can make-up roughly 10 minutes on the riders ahead of him – a doable task.

“It’s difficult to accept but the race is over for me,” said Alessandro Botturi. “I had a hard time on the Dakar, especially because of the wrist injury I was suffering from in the competition, but I kept fighting to carry Hélder Rodrigues to the end, but I got stopped on today’s Fiambala dunes, where I encountered a technical problem.

“There was nothing I could do to fix it, which is the rule on the Dakar and I knew it could happen. I’m thankful for Yamaha’s support this year again. I count on a comeback next year.”

For Husqvarna, disaster was narrowly avoided as Pablo Quintanilla suffered a punctured tire on the marathon stage. Quintanilla managed to nurse his bike to the stage finish, where he could finally get assistance from his team.

A sixth place finish for the day kept Quintanilla in third overall, continuing Husqvarna’s strong showing for its Dakar re-entry.

“Yesterday was a really tough day. The heat was incredible. I tried to do good navigation and not to make many mistakes and I think we had a really good stage. Today was different. I started in a good position to push and recover some time but I realized I had a problem with the rear tires,” said Quintanilla.

“I tried to slow it down, and to keep calm and I lost some time at the end of the stage. There was a big hole in the tyre, so it was really dangerous. I knew it might mean the end of the rally if I hit a stone, so I tried to be calm and close off the gas a little bit.”

We should point out that there are significant differences in the results standings between what the teams were issued, and what the ASO is displaying on its website.

It’s not clear which numbers are accurate, and hopefully tomorrow will see an adjustment, one way or another. Unfortunately, this is a fairly common issue with the Dakar Rally.

Top 10 from Stage 10 – Belén to La Rioja – of the 2016 Dakar Rally:

Pos.	Rider	Country	Brand	Time	Diff	Penalty
1	SVITKO	SVK	KTM	03:47:23	–	–
2	BENAVIDES	ARG	HONDA	03:50:17	00:02:54	–
3	PRICE	AUS	KTM	03:53:10	00:05:47	–
4	GONCALVES	PRT	HONDA	03:53:24	00:06:01	–
5	MEO	FRA	KTM	03:55:06	00:07:43	–
6	QUINTANILLA	CHL	HUSQVARNA	03:57:18	00:09:55	–
7	RODRIGUES	PRT	YAMAHA	03:59:24	00:12:01	–
8	BRABEC	USA	HONDA	04:01:10	00:13:47	–
9	VAN BEVEREN	FRA	YAMAHA	04:05:24	00:18:01	–
10	FARRES GUELL	ESP	KTM	04:14:09	00:26:46	–

Overall Top 10 of the 2016 Dakar Rally:

Pos.	Rider	Country	Brand	Time	Diff	Penalty
1	PRICE	AUS	KTM	34:49:04	–	–
2	SVITKO	SVK	KTM	35:12:16	00:23:12	00:01:00
3	QUINTANILLA	CHL	HUSQVARNA	35:31:53	00:42:49	–
4	MEO	FRA	KTM	35:33:08	00:44:04	–
5	BENAVIDES	ARG	HONDA	35:34:14	00:45:10	–
6	RODRIGUES	PRT	YAMAHA	35:45:21	00:56:17	00:02:00
7	BRABEC	USA	HONDA	36:01:12	01:12:08	–
8	GONCALVES	PRT	HONDA	36:03:49	01:14:45	00:39:56
9	FARRES GUELL	ESP	KTM	36:04:13	01:15:09	–
10	VAN BEVEREN	FRA	YAMAHA	36:10:59	01:21:55	–