Final podium place for Kevin Benavides and the Monster Energy Honda Team in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge

I’ve finished third in Abu Dhabi. I think it's a good start to the championship. Today we had a motocross-type and over the final 60 kilometres we had a tough battle to decide the stage. I defended my third place very well. I'm happy because I think the speed and pace I had in the race were very good. The sensations aboard the bike were very good too and that leaves me very satisfied. It is the start of the championship, a lot is still to come, but we will work harder to continue improving and that will pay off with victories in the coming races.

Apart from the result, starting the World Championship with a fifth place wasn’t at all bad, especially if we take into account that I haven’t been on the bike for some time since the injury. The last race was back in Morocco. I knew that this would take its toll, but I did my best to try to overcome such a tough test. We have to keep working and in the next world championship competition I think we can do much better. With the bike there were no problems at all. Despite the harsh conditions here, the team has done a great job.

We’re happy to arrive at Yas Marina circuit again after to have finished the first round of the world championship. Not such a good start to the series, this is quite a dangerous rally with the undulation of the dunes and major cuts. I’ve not made a mistake or dropped the bike once the whole time. So that’s a plus in my book. I’m looking forward to the rest of the year.

Today we all started out together. Everyone against each other; There was some dust and it was a bit dangerous and I dropped a bit of time. We started attacking after refuelling and I was able to catch the group in front of me. I had a good feeling with the bike, which has been perfect every day. I have improved every day aboard it in the dunes and I hope to continue like this in the next race.

We all started out together and then, when we got onto the track it became more difficult to follow because there was a lot of dust being raised. I fell - fortunately it was nothing, and I was able to continue. We finished the rally and we’ve had some good feelings over the race. Plus we’ve improved the speed, which was important too.

I want to congratulate Kevin on his third place in the general standings. It was a very difficult race, tough, and also dangerous because of the cut dunes and because the riders were so fast. I congratulate also the riders and the team. Everything went well and after this first race of the year, where we have settled as a team and we will continue working towards our final goal, which is the Dakar, race by race. The bikes, like the riders, have worked well and we are very satisfied with that too.