Dakar Rally: Coma, Sonik, Al-Attiyah close in on wins; Santosh charges to 38th overall

The bikers and the quad drivers completed their 891 km journey from Calama in Chile to Argentina’s Salta on Wednesday, as part of their second marathon stage of the 2015 Dakar Rally. Their colleagues in cars and trucks category took a slightly shorter route and were free to call their crews in case of emergency.

India’s CS Santosh secured a strong result for a third day in a row in his maiden Dakar Rally. The incredibly determined 31-year-old rider from Bangalore finished 36th on stage 10 to improve his overall ranking by four places to 38th.

Frenchmen Alain Duclos and Fabien Planet are now 20th and 31st overall astride their TVS sponsored Shercos.

BIKES: BARREDA WINS STAGE 10 AS COMA GAINS GROUND OVER GONCALVES

Spain’s Joan Barreda triumphed for a third time in this year’s edition of Dakar Rally, beating countrymen Marc Coma by a minute and 39 seconds on his way across the Chile/Argentina border to Salta.

Having lost four hours and seen his title bid go up in smoke on Monday, the Honda rider had nothing to lose and everything to gain in the remaining stages of the rally. And the Spaniard showed his class again with this impressive victory over the four time Dakar winner.

Coma, meanwhile, could feel another Dakar Rally win coming his way(mechanical issues not withstanding) after gaining a further two minutes over Paulo Goncalves who could only manage a fifth place result in today’s stage.

With three stages still remaining, Coma sits pretty at the top of the overall classifications, with a seven-and-a-half minute margin over Goncalves.

Further down the order, Bangalore born rider CS Santosh clocked the 36th fastest time of the day, elevating himself to 38th place in the overall standings. Having suffered from a fall and a hairline fracture in the first half of the 9000 km rally, the Indian has come back strongly since the one day break in Iquique.

The two TVS Sherco bikes also fared well after yesterday’s troubles with Alain Duclos crossing the line in 14th place and Fabio Planet finishing four minutes behind his teammate in 20th place.

Results

Joan Barreda Bort (Honda) 4:07:11
Marc Coma (KTM) +1:39
Ruben Faria (KTM) +1:57
Toby Price (KTM) +2:14
Paulo Goncalves (Honda) +3:46
Stefan Svitko (KTM) +6:22
Helder Rodrigues (Honda) +6:26
Pablo Quintanilla (KTM) +6:29
Ivan Jakes (KTM)+8:59
Hans Vogels (KTM) +10:19

QUADS: GALEANO TAKES STAGE WIN, END OF THE ROAD FOR CASALE

Sanabria Galeano was the quickest of the 21 surviving quad riders in stage 10 of 2015 Dakar Rally as he aims to move into a podium spot in the overall standings.

The Paraguayan beat fellow Yamaha rider Jeremias González Ferioli by three minutes and 40 seconds to register his second victory in four stages.

However, the stage holds far more significance as defending champion Ignacio Casale withdrew from the event on mechanical grounds, effectively handing the title to Yamaha’s Rafal Sonik. The duo were separated by just four minutes going into today’s stage #10, with the next closest rider at least two hours behind.

Results

Sanabria Galeano (Yamaha) 4:57:59
Jeremias González Ferioli (Yamaha) +3:40
Walter Nosiglia (Honda) +4:30
Rafal Sonik (Yamaha) +5:44
Christophe Declerck (Yamaha) +7:44
Victor Manuel Gallegos (Honda) +8:39
Daniel Domaszewski (Honda) +11:35
Ricardo Vinet (Can-Am) +13:36
Hannes Saaijman (Yamaha) +17:34
Sebastián Palma (Can-Am) +22:05

CARS: AL-ATTIYAH EYES SECOND DAKAR CROWN WITH STAGE 10 WIN

The cars category is also gradually turning out to be a one man’s affair after Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah secured his fourth stage win of 2015 Dakar Rally while his closest challenger Giniel De Villiers failed to convert his consistent performances into an elusive victory for a 10th time.

Despite falling 28 minutes behind Al-Attiyah in the overall standings, De Villiers hasn’t lost all hope and is pinning on his Qatari rival to make a mistake or two.

“Nasser’s too far ahead, it makes no sense to take risks,” he said. “We won’t be able to catch him unless he makes mistakes, but it can happen.”

“Yesterday was a disappointment, but we still believe in our chances, you never know. It ain’t over yet. Things are good, on balance, because we know we’re still in the fight for victory,’’ he concluded.

Results

Nasser Al-Attiyah (MINI) 3:49:59
Orlando Terranova (MINI) +1:35
Yazeed Al Rajhi (Toyota) +3:39
Leeroy Poulter (Toyota) +4:06
Giniel De Villiers (Toyota) +4:24
Bernhard Ten Brinke (Toyota) +5:21
Krzysztof Holowczyc (MINI) +6:01
Emiliano Spataro (Renault) +7:19
Stéphane Peterhansel (Peugeot) +7:23
Carlos Sousa (Mitsubishi) +8:18

TRUCKS: ANOTHER STAGE WIN FOR NIKOLAEV, MARDEEV STAYS IN OVERALL LEAD

The trucks race, however, remains a tight contest between two Kamaz drivers from Russia, namely Eduard Nikolaev and Ayrat Mardeev. The two were neck and neck for the majority of the stage with the former eventually having the top honours.

Mardeev only conceded 49 seconds to his teammate and still boasts a sizeable 13 minutes advantage in the overall classifications.

Results

Eduard Nikolaev (Kamaz) 4:18:17
Ayrat Mardeev (Kamaz) +49
Siarhei Viazovich (MAZ) +1:19
Ales Loprais (MAN) +4:42
Gerard De Rooy (Iveco) +5:19
Hans Stacey (Iveco) +7:16
Martin Van Den Brink (Renault) +13:40
Ton Van Genugten (DAF) +16:37
Wulfert Van Ginkel (Ginaf) +18:08
Aleksandr Vasilevski (MAZ) +18:41