Chilean Quintanilla Recovers with Victory, Branch Leads Again, and Barreda Falls

Quintanilla, with a time of 1 hour, 32 minutes, and 53 seconds, also recovered from the six-minute penalty in the third race that made him lose the stage he had achieved on Monday and prevented him from getting closer to the lead, Branch, Cornejo and the American Ricky Brabec (Honda) are now fighting, separated by less than four minutes.

For his part, Barreda, who finished ten minutes and 25 seconds behind Quintanilla, had a cut on his nose and went straight to the bivouac medical hospital as soon as the stage finished, although the severity of the fall is unknown at the moment.

Late Start for Drivers in the Shortest Stage of the Dakar

The pilots started later than usual, partly because this was the shortest stage of the Dakar, as they only ran 118 timed kilometers in a transition day between the ‘semi-marathon’ on Monday and Tuesday and the 48-hour time trial stage. which will begin on Thursday and end on Friday.

Although in the first ‘waypoint’ (reference point) the Chilean was more than three minutes behind the best stage, marked by the Frenchman Adrien van Beveren (Honda), who finished second, the South American was already leading in the second stage and, far away After stopping giving gas through the Saudi dunes, he finished 37 seconds ahead of the Frenchman.

Leader Branch also recovered very well after a bad first stage, who despite being eleventh at the first waypoint, finished sixth, taking the lead from Chilean Cornejo, who had no luck this Wednesday, finishing thirteenth. more than six minutes behind his compatriot.

Mason Klein Scales Jobs in Big Performance

Another great recovery was that of the very young American driver Mason Klein (Korr Offroad Racing), who finished fifth after starting the stage fifteenth. The American continues to show day by day the great level he has on the two-wheeled vehicle, although mechanical problems hindered his chances of general. Despite everything, he is thirty-sixth, after climbing nineteen places this Wednesday.

Also read: Nadal’s Triumphant Return Amid Adversity in Australia

With this Wednesday’s victory, Quintanilla climbed from seventh to sixth position overall, where he is 26 minutes and 47 seconds behind Branch. Monday’s penalty and his bad stage this Tuesday reduced his chances of victory in the general classification, although if he maintains the consistency shown during the beginning and achieves one more victory, the Chilean is ready to once again be one of the favorites.

This was the stage before the 48-hour time trial, a day that will be unknown to the pilots and the organization, which this week led to the fact that the motorcycle pilots will travel more than 600 km in two days and will have to sleep in a tent in the middle of the desert and will only have a “military-style” ration of food.
​