Chile’s Pablo Quintanilla had a fantastic day in Stage 8 of the Dakar Rally, but the day dealt a death blow to Joan Barreda’s hopes for the overall win.
Tansportes Arista’s Pablo Quintanilla had a dream day in the 2015 Dakar Rally, the Chilean claiming his first career stage victory during Stage 8, a wet, cold and treacherous second half to the marathon stage that sent riders off on an adventure in Bolivia before looping them back to Iquique, Chile.
“It was very, very complicated,” Quintanilla said. “Yesterday we had to tackle as stage where there was a lot of water and plenty of mud. This morning, because it had rained all night, the tracks were full of water and the salt pan was full of water too. There was a bit of confusion at the beginning about the issue of rider safety, but the starter’s orders were eventually given. The bike suffered on the stage, and the electrical circuit did, too. It was very tough: the altitude, the entire day on the bike, but I’m happy to be back in Chile. We’ll have a look with the mechanics to make sure we can start tomorrow in good condition. I’m happy with my race. I’m trying to maintain the pace and follow the leaders, but Coma and Barreda are really very quick.”
Today’s stage will likely be remembered for the huge shakeup that occurred in the overall standings. For Team HRC’s Juan Barreda the rally went from dream to nightmare. After receiving a handlebar from a fellow Honda rider and making repairs to his crashed factory CRF450 Rally, Barreda set out to try and maintain or possibly recover some of the 6 minutes that he had lost to Red Bull KTM’s Marc Coma. Instead, Barreda ran into electrical issues and had to be towed for much of the stage by teammate Jeremias Israel. Barreda was over 1 hour and 30 minutes off the rally lead by the time he completed the main portion of the timed special.
“In the end it’s been collateral damage, and a disgrace what they’ve made us do today; to race in a sea,” Barreda said. “It was out of place. All the work on all the projects that we’ve done has gone down the pan. To make a decision like that just wasn’t right. Today you couldn’t see a thing; visibility was zero. We were floating around on top of the water. They ordered us to start and this is what happened; my Dakar is over.”
Barreda’s exit cleared the way for Coma to take over the rally lead, and the reigning Dakar Rally Champion did so by riding conservatively to a ninth-place finish in the stage, 7 minutes and 37 seconds behind Quintanilla. The finish put Coma 9 minutes and 11 seconds in front of Team HRC Honda’s Paulo Goncalves, who was 15th today, but Coma is still well within striking distance of the Portuguese rider as well as Quintanilla and amazing Australian rider Toby Price, who is fourth overall and has the speed to cut into his nearly 16-minute deficit to Coma if Price has good luck with his navigation. For those who remain, the rally is far from over, and as we have seen with Barreda, anything can happen, but Coma has to be pleased that the really appears to have come to him once again.
“It was a very extreme day,” Coma said. “It was too difficult on the salt lake, there was the altitude, the cold, everything mixed in. It’s just like that. It’s just another day. The important thing is the last day and where we are. It was not an easy day for us, so we will see.”
Although Barreda’s rally hopes suffered a terminal meltdown and teammate Helder Rodrigues had an awful day that saw him drop down in the order, it wasn’t all tears for Team HRC Honda, as Laia Sanz produced her career-best Dakar Rally stage finish today, a fanastic fifth place, and has moved up into the top 10 overall.
“Today was a really hard day. At the beginning some riders didn’t want to start because it was dangerous and cold, but in the end for me it was a good stage. I was third until the dunes, but then Toby [Price] and [Pablo] Quintanilla passed me very fast. Anyway, I’m very happy with this fifth position.”
The rally was over for some riders today, however, as there were numerous withdrawals from stage 8, including four of the top 20 and three factory riders among them. Red Bull KTM’s Jordi Villadoms had to bow out with engine trouble. He was joined by Yamaha Factory Racing/Yamalube riders Michael Metge and Alessandro Botturi, who have been struggling to find a comfort zone with their all-new factory YZ450F Rally machines since the start of the event.
2015 Dakar Rally
Stage 8 (Marathon Stage, Part 2)
Uyuni, Bolivia-Iquique, Chile
Results: January 12, 2015 (Stage 8 of 13)
1. Pablo Quintanilla (CHL)-KTM/2 hours, 56 minutes, 19 seconds
2. Juan Pedrero (ESP)-Yam/+00:00:11
3. Stefan Svitko (SVK)-KTM/+00:00:12
4. Toby Price (AUS)-KTM/+00:00:41
5. Laia Sanz (ESP)-Hon/+00:02:36
6. Xavier De Soutrait (FRA)-Yam/+00:06:36
7. Alain Duclos (FRA)-She/00:06:42
8. Hans Vogels (NLD)-KTM/+00:07:34
9. Marc Coma (ESP)-KTM/+00:07:37
10. Ruben Faria (PRT)-KTM/+00:07:44
2015 Dakar Rally Standings (After 8 of 13 stages)
1. Marc Coma (ESP)-KTM/28 hours, 51 minutes, 12 seconds
2. Paulo Goncalves (PRT)-Hon/+00:09:11
3. Pablo Quintanilla (CHL)-KTM/+00:11:11
4. Toby Price (AUS)-KTM/+00:15:56
5. Stefan Svitko (SVK)-KTM/+00:26:30
6. Ruben Faria (PRT)-KTM/+00:34:34
7. Alain Duclos (FRA)-She/+00:58:08
8. David Casteu (FRA)-KTM/+01:10:48
9. Laia Sanz (ESP)-Hon/+01:18:51
10. Ivan Jakes (SVK)-KTM/+01:47:47
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