2016 Dakar Rally – Stage 12: Yamaha Takes the Day

The Penultimate stage of the 2016 Dakar Rally, Stage 12 also happened to be the rally’s longest stage – 931km overall, with a 481km timed special. With most riders now saving their bikes, in order to ensure a finish tomorrow, only a few pushed hard on the way from San Juan to Villa Carlos Paz.

One of those riders pushing for victory was Helder Rodrigues, who finally put Yamaha Racing on the charts with a strong result. For his efforts, Rodrigues is now only four minutes away from securing a podium finish for Yamaha and himself, battling closely with Husqvarna’s Pablo Quintanilla (3rd) and Honda South America Rally Team’s Kevin Benavides (4th).

“Today was a good day for me and for the whole Yamaha crew. It was a difficult stage but I felt it was the moment to attack and finally I managed to win! What is great is that I climbed up in a good position to fight for a podium tomorrow,” said Rodrigues.

“I will stay focused until I cross the finish line but, for sure, I will push even more for the last stage. The WR450F Rally is really a good bike; on a rally as the Dakar, a machine that lasts the distance makes a big difference. Yamaha’s crew did a good job on this competition, day after day; I had great pleasure working with them.”

Finishing second on the day was KTM’s Toby Price, who rode a smart conservative stage, but yet managed to eek out some more time to his nearest competitor, KTM rider Stefan Svitko. Price only has to manage a 37-minute gap to Svitko on tomorrow’s short 180km special in order to win the 2016 Dakar Rally – a doable task.

“Before the special started you felt like you had already done a half marathon. But for sure we got through it with no big dramas. It was a hard stage, not with the navigation but just with preserving the bike and the tires,” explained Toby Price.

“There was a lot of real sharp shale rocks and they chewed up everything really quick. It felt like I was riding on ice on the last bit. We also copped a fair bit of rain in the last section. The riverbeds were up again and it felt like the crossings were very slippery. I went for one little ‘excursion’ where it was slippery and I caught a bit of mud. So I just backed it down to make sure we got to the finish line and I didn’t trash the bike or myself.”

For Price’s teammate, Antoine Meo, the day meant the loss of a maiden Dakar podium, as the Frenchman missed a waypoint, and then crashed on the brutally long stage, losing 43 minutes in the overall process.

Dropping down into sixth place now overall, Meo is out of contention for the final podium spot, and likely dashed KTM’s hopes for a complete domination of the Top 3 results. That all being said, the enduro rider made a credible debut in the Dakar Rally. He will be force to contend with at next year’s Dakar.

“At the beginning it was not so bad. I was riding well and then one moment I missed a waypoint and had to go back to it. I lost a bit of time on Toby (Price) but it was not a big gap between us and I stayed focused,” said Meo.

“Then near the finish there was a crest that was not marked in the road book. I was riding fast, braked and lost the back end and went over the handlebars. That was very bad because I was trying to keep hold of my third place (in the overall times). But that’s how it is. Next year it will be better.”

For Honda, all hope rests on the “junior team” of Honda South America Rally Team, where Kevin Benavides is only minutes back from a third-place finish. His result on Stage 13 will dictate whether he is on the podium for the 2016 Dakar Rally. No pressure.

In the same position is Husqvarna’s Pablo Quintanilla, who is currently holding the third place slot by a mere three minutes and change. You can expect him to be fighting hard on Saturday as well.

Top 10 from Stage 12 – San Juan to Villa Carlos Paz – of the 2016 Dakar Rally:

Overall Top 10 of the 2016 Dakar Rally:

Source: Dakar; Photos: HRC, Husqvarna, & Yamaha Racing