Stage 3 of the Atacama Rally was also marred by a long delay as the morning fog continued to play spoilsport for the rally on second back to back day.
For Hero Motorsports Team Rally, it turned out to be a day of mixed fortunes. Oriol Mena started strong and kept pushing throughout the stage but a difficult to find waypoint towards the end of the stage made him lose some time but he managed to retain 10th place.
For Jrod on the other hand it was a short day as due to a technical snag with the bike he decide to not take unwanted risk and stopped without finishing the stage. Once the team fixes the issue he will be eligible to start again in tomorrow’s stage.
At the end of the stage 3 Oriol is placed at the 13th place while JRod’s ranking was not available at the time of compiling this release.
Today’s special stage ran for a total of 260 km with almost half of it i.e. about 120 kms run completely in the dunes. The remaining stage offered a mix of off piste and some more of dunes.
Tomorrow, the rally will move on to the 4th stage with another 250kms to be done before moving on to the final stage of the rally.
Oriol Mena (Competitor# 14): « It was a really fast stage today and not very technical in the dunes so I could ride relaxed. I started at a good position with a few riders ahead of me so I could see the tracks in front of you. I am happy with my overall day so one more day down and just two more to go. »
Joaquim Rodrigues (Competitor # 16): « I had a good start to the stage but just as I entered the stage, I had some technical issue with the bike. To keep it safe I decided to stop and not push it further. The team is already on it and hopefully we can start again tomorrow. »
Provisional Rankings for Stage 3
1. Pablo Quintanilla, Husqvarna Racing, 2hr 57m 40s
2. Sam Sunderland, KTM Factory Racing, +3m 46s
3. Kevin Benavides, Honda Racing, +6m 49s
10. Oriol Mena, Hero Motorsports, +18m 27s
Provisional Overall Rankings after Stage 3
1. Pablo Quintanilla, Husqvarna Racing, 9hr 39m 12s
2. Kevin Benavides, Honda Racing, +4m 56s
3. Toby Price, KTM Factory Racing, +12m 06s
13. Oriol Mena, Hero Motorsports, +1hr 06m 52s…
Press Release,