Dakar Rally: Rodrigues, Casale, Al-Attiyah, Nikolaev top stage six; Santosh 52nd overall despite fall

Stage six of the 2015 Dakar Rally sees drivers across the trucks and cars category cover over 600 km including a 255 km special stage. The riders on quads and bikes have to take a slightly longer route but get a day off in Iquique tomorrow. The rest day for cars and trucks will follow on Monday after they’ve tackled the marathon stage with no assistance teams at their disposal.

BIKES: BARREDA EXTENDS OVERALL LEAD, SANTOSH TO CONTINUE DESPITE FALL

Portugal's Helder Rodrigues clinched his first stage victory of the 36th edition of Dakar Rally in the 319 km special between Antofagasta and Iquique on Friday, with a time of 3hr40m10sec.

The result elevates the Honda rider to sixth place in the overall standings, less than three minutes behind debutant Toby Price who finished second in today’s stage.

In sixth place and seven minutes behind the leading duo came the Honda of standings leader Joan Barreda. However, that massive gap to the stage winner isn’t a cause of worry for the Spanish rider, considering his chief rival Marc Coma finished two minutes adrift in eighth.

India, which is being represented by Bangalore's CS Santosh, almost had to see its representation end as reports came in of the 31-year-old suffering a hairline fracture after a fall while overtaking competitors on the stage.

After the fall in the early section of the stage, Santosh was treated and will get a day off as the rally has a rest day today. Reports suggest that he intends to continue competing and finish the event.

Despite the fall, Santosh took his KTM to the 64th fastest time of the day and stands 52nd in the overall standings while TVS Sherco riders Alain Duclos and Fabia Planet were 13th and 28th quickest respectively.

Results

Helder Rodrigues (Honda) 3:40:10
Toby Price (KTM) +1:10
Paulo Gonçalves (Honda) +1:42
Pablo Quintanilla (KTM) +6:11
Stefan Svitko (KTM) +6:42
Joan Barreda (Honda) +7:20
Jeremias Israel (Honda) +8:58
Marc Coma (KTM) +9:14
Ruben Faria (KTM) +9:34
Ivan Jakes (KTM) +13:59

QUADS: CASALE FIGHTS BACK WITH STAGE SIX WIN

Just when it seemed that Rafal Sonik was heading to a dominant victory in the quads category, Ignacio Casale declared that the battle between the duo was far from over with a commanding eighth minute victory on Friday. Casale, however, still has a lot of work to do to overturn his Polish rival’s lead, currently standing at 16 minutes.

Uruguay's Sergio Lafuente finished 28 minutes behind the stage winning time in third place with the Argentine pairing of Jeremias González Ferioli and Sebastian Halpern rounding off the top five.

Results

Ignacio Casale (Yamaha)
Rafal Sonik (Yamaha)
Sergio Lafuente (Yamaha)
Jeremias Gonzalez Feriolo (Yamaha)
Sebastian Halpern (Yamaha)
Nelson Sanabria (Yamaha)
Walter Nosiglia (Honda)
Sebastián Palma (Can-Am)
Para Santiago Hansen (Honda)
Willem Saaijman (Yamaha)

CARS - AL-ATTIYAH MAINTAINS LEAD AFTER A CLOSE CONTEST

Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah maintained his overall lead in the cars category of Dakar Rally after beating Giniel De Villiers by a hairline for victory in stage six.

All-Attiyah has managed to build a healthy advantage of 11 minutes in the overall standings but the MINI driver must remain wary of De Villiers who has managed to log consistent top results in the first six days of the rally.

Results

Nasser Al-Attiyah (MINI)
Giniel De Villiers (Toyota)
Nani Roma (MINI)
Robby Gordon (Gordini)
Orlando Orly Terranova (MINI)
Bernhard Ten Brinke (Toyota)
Yazeed Al Rajhi (Toyota)
Krzysztof Holowczyc (MINI)
Erik Van Loon (MINI)
Christian Levielle (Toyota)

TRUCKS: NIKOLAEV MAKES IT THREE STAGE WINS IN A ROW

2013 Dakar Rally winner Eduard Nikolaev is well aware that consistency is key to success after he struck the fastest time for a third stage in a row.

In this all Kamaz affair at the top, Nikolaev crossed the chequered flag with a total time of 2:54:28. Ayrat Mardeev slotted in second place while Andrey Karginov was third quickest in the latest stage of the Dakar Rally.

Results

Eduard Nikolaev (Kamaz) 2:54:28
Ayrat Mardeev (Kamaz) +5:37
Andrey Karginov (Kamaz) +10:40
Gerard De Rooy (Iveco) +11:31
Dmitry Sotnikov (Kamaz) +12:44
Siarhei Viazovich (MAZ) +25:16
Martin Kolomy (Tatra) +27:12
Hans Stacey (Iveco) +30:28
Artur Ardavichus (Tatra) +32:23
Wulfert Van Ginkel (Ginaf) +39:22