With just one more day to go as the 41st edition of the Dakar Rally comes to a close, Hero MotoSports Team Rally is poised well to post their third Dakar finish in a commendable position.
Both Oriol Mena and Joaquim Rodrigues kept their nerves today and kept focus on finishing the penultimate stage of the Dakar 2019 without any incidents.
Mena was in top form today as well, defending his position successfully to finish the stage 9 on 11th position. Today’s solid finish takes him a notch above to 9th position in the overall rankings with only one more stage to go.
Joaquim Rodrigues, fighting off a severe back pain from yesterday and despite a crash today, kept pushing himself in another dusty and fast stage to finish the stage 9 in the 19th position. With one more day to go, JRod is placed at 17th position in the overall rankings.
Today’s stage was a mass start in waves of 10 riders each, that offered a run of 313 km in the special stage to the competitors wit a 50-50 mix of the dunes and the soft gravel laden terrain, a recipe for yet another fast stage.
The ultimate stage of the Dakar 2019 will offer the final test to the competitors in the final loop of Pisco for a 112km special, before moving to Lima for the celebrations.
Oriol Mena (Comp No: 7): « I am happy with my stage today. It was a mass start and there were all kinds of things happening around me, like guys going in wrong directions, losing way points, engines breaking up and so on. So I decided to shut myself off and do my own race with my own rhythm and flow. One more day in the book and now only one more day to Lima. »
Joaquim Rodrigues (Comp No: 27): « Hard day today, I had a crash and damaged my bike a little bit. My back is still sore from yesterday so I decided to just take it easy and bring my Hero to the finish line safely. So difficult day today but we are across the finish line today with only one more day to go. »
Provisional Stage 9 results
1. Michael Metge, Sherco TVS Racing, Sherco, 03h 46m 38s
2. Daniel Jager Nosiglia, MEC Honda Racing, Honda, +02m 00s
3. Pablo Quintanilla, Husqvarna Factory Racing, Husqvarna, +03m 28s…
11. Oriol Mena, Hero MotoSports Team Rally, Hero MotoSports, +05m 58s…
19. Joaquim Rodrigues, Hero MotoSports Team Rally, Hero MotoSports, +40m 41s…
Provisional Overall Results after Stage 9
1. Toby Price, KTM Factory Racing, KTM, 32h 43m 15s
2. Pablo Quintanilla, Husqvarna Factory Racing, Husqvarna, +01m 02s
3. Matthias Walkner, KTM Factory Racing, KTM, +06m 35s
9. Oriol Mena, Hero MotoSports Team Rally, Hero MotoSports, +01h 52m 20s…
17. Joaquim Rodrigues, Hero MotoSports Team Rally, Hero MotoSports, +05h 07m 24s…
Press Release,