A fourth win for Joan Barreda brings the Honda CRF450 RALLY a seventh triumph in the Dakar 2015. The Spanish athlete, first away this morning after yesterday’s marathon stage win, was also first to cross the finish-line in the Circuit of Termas de Río Hondo.

Barreda, who has clearly put his troubles from the Uyuni stage behind him, once again showed a white-knuckle display of speed and agility, picking up his fourth stage win so far in the event.

Paulo Gonçalves battled hard to keep all options of a final victory wide open in spite of a fifteen-minute penalization for an engine change at the end of the first leg of the marathon stage. The Portuguese ace finished in second place, and will be looking to try and reduce the deficit with his rival Marc Coma over the two final days.

Hélder Rodrigues made it through in eighth to Termas de Río Hondo, in a problem-free fashion, as the second leg of the marathon stage closed in spite of exhaustion after a sleepless night helping team-mates Paulo, Joan and Jeremías, swap first Paulo’s engine and then Joan’s. Consequently, Jeremías Israel’s generosity in sacrificing his engine saw him unable to start the day’s stage. Spaniard Laia Sanz, one of the revelations of the competition, showed yet another speedy but prudent performance in the Salta region.

Javier Pizzolito was the best of the supporting Honda South America Rally Team, with a 16th place final finish, which moves the rider one notch up the overall scorecard to 20th. Jean Azevedo, who has shown great consistency throughout the entire event, wound up the stage in 25th place, and continues to hold 22nd overall.

Follow our riders in the race here !!


TOMORROW’S STAGE
STAGE 12 – Friday, 16th January
Termas de Río Hondo (ARG) – Rosario (ARG)

Liaison:
 726 km
Special stage: 298 km


Time for an attack

The Dakar will spend the night near the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit, which regularly hosts the Argentine rounds of the GP motorbike and WTCC championships. But the Dakar’s competitors are set for a long cross-country journey, battling it out in this tension-packed penultimate day. A combative driver could still shake up the leaders’ positions even at this stage. And drivers who become too distracted could be caught by surprise by the surrounding vegetation!

DAK15_Stage12_profil_ENG

DAK15_Stage12

Joan Barreda

1st 3:26'33

Yesterday we had to change Paulo’s engine with mine, which was fresher, and I had to put Jeremías’ one in. We were working until two in the morning and we only rested for a couple of hours. Today the first part of the stage was complicated by the rains of last night, mainly with the swollen rivers. I got to the refuelling fine, and after that I pushed really hard on the mountain paths. Everything went well and I was able to win. We have proved that we can win not only stages, but also the whole race. Right now, the main priority is a win for the team.

Paulo Goncalves

2nd + 00'17

We’ve finished off a hard marathon stage, in first and second place. But Mark’s overall position has improved because of the fifteen minute penalty for an engine change. It’s not possible to claw back twenty minutes racing, but anything could still happen. We’ve just got to keep working and take each day as it comes.

Helder Rodrigues

8th + 5'25

It’s been a great day for the team. We’ve all worked so hard to keep Team HRC’s options open on the final table, which is very important for us. I’m happy to be able to help the team in any way possible to reach that aim.

Laia Sanz

17th + 11'00

This year we have done two marathon stages in the same week and it’s been tough. Yesterday was really hard, because going through the Andes was exhausting, and we ended up having to sleep on the floor. Today I was more tired than normal, so I took it easy to make it through to the end, which is the main objective.

Private: Wolfgang Fischer

Team HRC Team Manager

So, we have just arrived here at the end of this second marathon stage of this Dakar. This year the marathon stages have been a real rollercoaster for Team HRC. Yesterday, we had a very nice stage result with a victory from Joan Barreda after a very long day travelling over the mountains in Chile, but also without any problems at the end of the stage. On arriving back at the bivouac yesterday, they found out that Paulo’s engine had a problem and obviously, in the bivouac, the riders were on their own without any tools, but the four managed to work very well together, with a great team spirit, to help Paulo find out if they could fix the engine. Finally, after everything, they decided that they had to change the engine, so that Paulo could continue. The best way to do that was to remove the engine from Joan’s bike, because it was freshest and had only been removed two days before. They mounted it into Paulo’s bike and got everything working. Also, the decision was made to get Jeremias’ engine and put it into Joan’s bike, so we had to sacrifice one rider and now he’s out of the race so that the other riders could continue with the engines correctly mounted and working. Even after all the first marathon stage and only getting three hours sleep, they still managed to win and be second in the stage today; so it’s really fantastic team effort, and I’m really proud of the guys and what they did last night. So many thanks to Jeremias who was doing so well, always supportive and always making a super-human effort; first towing Joan back after the disaster in the salt flats, otherwise he would not be here; and yesterday he sacrificed his own race too, to help Joan finish today. We lost fifteen minutes for the engine change, but still anything is possible – nothing is won, nothing is lost. Two days to go. Thank you.

2015 Dakar Rally
Stage 11   Dakar

Results Stage 11

Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Barreda Joan SPA Monster Energy Honda Team Honda 3:26'33
2 Goncalves Paulo POR Team HRC Honda + 00'17
3 Jakes Ivan SLO Microstep Industry Team KTM + 1'35
4 Faria Ruben POR Monster Energy Honda Team Honda + 1'43
5 Price Toby 18 AUS Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team KTM + 2'17
6 Coma Marc SPA Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team KTM + 2'40
7 Quintanilla Pablo CHI KTM KTM + 4'13
8 Rodrigues Helder POR Team HRC Honda + 5'25
9 Duclos Alain 20 FRA Sherco TVS Rally Factory Sherco + 5'26
10 Svitko Stefan SLO Slovnaft Rally Team KTM + 5'28
11 Vogels Hans NDL Team Hans Vogels KTM + 5'52
12 Verhoeven Frans NDL Yamaha Racing Yamaha + 7'09
13 Pain Olivier 16 FRA Team Top KTM + 7'46
14 Casteu David 9 FRA Team Casteu KTM + 8'17
15 Planet Fabien FRA Sherco TVS Rally Factory Sherco + 8'19
16 Pizzolito Javier ARG Honda South America Rally Team Honda + 8'20
17 Sanz Laia SPA Team HRC Honda + 11'00
24 Azevedo Jean BRA Honda South America Rally Team Honda + 15'13
2015 Dakar Rally
Stage 11   Dakar

Provisional Standings after Stage 11

Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Coma Marc SPA Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team KTM 41:43'03
2 Goncalves Paulo POR Team HRC Honda + 20'12
3 Price Toby 18 AUS Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team KTM + 31'43
4 Quintanilla Pablo CHI KTM KTM + 33'15
5 Svitko Stefan SLO Slovnaft Rally Team KTM + 48'07
6 Faria Ruben POR Monster Energy Honda Team Honda + 1:40'43
7 Casteu David 9 FRA Team Casteu KTM + 1:46'51
8 Sanz Laia SPA Team HRC Honda + 2:13'20
9 Jakes Ivan SLO Microstep Industry Team KTM + 2:24'46
10 Pain Olivier 16 FRA Team Top KTM + 2:55'17
12 Rodrigues Helder POR Team HRC Honda + 3:25'39
19 Barreda Joan SPA Monster Energy Honda Team Honda + 5:19'32
20 Pizzolito Javier ARG Honda South America Rally Team Honda + 6:08'08
23 Azevedo Jean BRA Honda South America Rally Team Honda + 6:22'48

Team HRC Dakar Rally 2015 - Stage 11

A fourth win for Joan Barreda brings the Honda CRF450 RALLY a seventh triumph in the Dakar 2015. The Spanish athlete, first away this morning after yesterday’s marathon stage win, was also first to cross the finish-line in the Circuit of Termas de Río Hondo.


Team HRC Rally Dakar 2015 - Stage 11 - Behind the Scenes

Location Information

The greatest and toughest rally in the world, the Dakar’s history has been written in the heart of some of the world’s most stunning deserts and belongs to the world of the greatest sporting challenges of our time. Both a motor race and an orienteering challenge, the Dakar Rally pits… read more.

Lima, Perú - View in Google Maps